"So it isn't perfect, then." Kushina stated, looking over the diagram I'd set out.
"We're still undergoing testing, but I'd estimate that without substantially altering the design and charging it with more power than is really feasible, you're going to run into a hard limit of ten kilometers." I paused, taking a sip of the tea sitting at the table in front of me. "Additionally, the chakra-mix needed to activate the gates is unique to Yakumo. While I can't say that other members of the Kurama clan can't learn to generate either with or without some kind of equipment, that's a major limitation on deployment. Beyond that, though, we don't know what kind of deterioration they might undergo through long-term or constant use. It's entirely possible they could collapse after a week of constant operation, we just haven't been able to do the kind of testing that needs doing."
"Do you think you could develop some kind of training aid?" Murakumo asked, cradling his chin in one hand as he visibly struggled to analyze the complicated maps of seals laid out on the table.
Yakumo and I looked at each other. I gave a minute shrug and put the ball in her court.
"Ah," she cleared her throat consideringly. "I believe Kota could if we volunteered more of the branch family members to give chakra samples and receive specialized training."
I opened my mouth to object, feeling what little free time I had turn to dust and blow away in an ethereal breeze, like that movie with that purple guy with a chin like a nutsack. Then I sighed. "I suppose they can join in on some of the lessons I'm giving Yakumo." I tried to look on the positive side. "If I'm teaching more students, though..."
Murakumo grimaced slightly, looking to Kushina in a side-glance, who nodded discreetly. "We will, of course, compensate you for the additional effort you're putting forth."
The Uzumaki clan head cleared her throat. "Of course, provided your creation passes a more thorough inspection and the Hokage approves of it, it will be purchased by the village. The Kurama clan will not be liable for any further financial obligations outside of what they agree to pay for directly."
"Of course." I echoed her. "While I need to look out for my own interests, I'm neither looking to hold the welfare of the Kurama nor the village at large hostage."
Kushina smiled, a touch of approval in the expression. "Good, keep that up. While we'll be doing our best to keep your involvement in this under wraps, Kotaro, but if and when your contributions are discovered you'll need to understand village politics." She paused, a speculative gleam in her eye. "Sometime soon we'll have to have a talk about people to watch out for."
Now that I'll need to make time for. Maybe I can get her to drop Danzo's name so that I have a reason to ask about him.
"I'll talk to Naruko about it." I stated, glancing at the blonde girl sitting off to the side... well, no, she was more bouncing in place off to the side of her mother as her eyes cut away tracing various things in the room around us. She was very obviously having a difficult time paying attention and looking for anything that could amuse her. At the sound of her name, though, she hyper-focused on me and grinned.
"Sure, I'll-wait, what?" She asked, looking around in confusion.
Kushina sighed as Satsuki reached over and whacked her on the head, much to her irritation. "Satsuki." The Uchiha heiress perked up, drawn away from the incipient pissing match with her rival. "I'd rather you not tell your parents about this right now. I'll inform Mikoto when she comes over for tea later this week, but until further notice consider this a village secret. That goes double for you, Narumi."
Naruko reflexively opened her mouth to yell at her mother, then choked back the cry when she saw the look on the woman's face. After having known the woman a bit, she only used her daughter's real name when something serious was afoot.
"Yes ma'am." Naruko nodded dutifully.
"Your friend Tenten knows about these experiments?" Kushina asked, looking around at all of us kids.
I waffled a hand back and forth. "She knows what we were trying to do, but she's been busy with her team and only knows about some of the more explosive failures we've had. Like the one that literally exploded, or the version from two weeks ago that I made out of pig iron and it kind of... melted and then ate itself."
Murakumo pursed his lips. "I think it best for everyone if we kept as few in the loop on this as possible. Tell your friend that you damaged one of the clan buildings, perhaps? And I've put a stop to further testing until we find a way to conduct it more safely, which is not entirely a lie."
It was telling exactly what kind of society I was in when neither Naruko, Satsuki, nor Yakumo made even the slightest objection to keeping their friend in the dark. All of us, even myself, had been constantly reminded of the necessity of a properly-kept secret on behalf of the welfare of the village.
"If that's what you think is best." I confirmed, unwilling to gainsay the vastly more experienced individuals.
Kushina smiled and stretched. "Well, now that that's over!" She looked around. "You kids did an amazing job with this! I'm really impressed! How about I buy you all dinner tonight! Wherever you want!"
Satsuki and I exchanged a quick look and the Uchiha girl tackled Naruko as she opened her mouth. I cleared my throat to attract attention. "While Naruko probably wants to insist on ramen, we just had that a few days ago. I think everyone would much rather a trip to Yakiniku Q." I paused and cocked my head even as Naruko's groan of disappointment was audible behind Satsuki's hand covering her mouth. "Assuming she's not exhausted from training, would it be alright if we included Tenten?"
Kushina waved a hand. "You know it! I'll give you plenty of ryo for the trip and you can keep the change, kids."
That seemed to be as good as a dismissal, even if all of the adults stayed seated while we got up and got ready to go.
"Oh hey, Kota?" Kushina asked as I neared the door. "Any other copies of these plans?"
I turned back, frowning at the woman for a moment before nodding. "I keep a backup set of diagrams for everything I'm working on secured. Anyone trying to get to them is more likely to destroy the entire case than sneak a peek."
Her violet eyes flickered back onto the complex seal structure for a fraction of a second before returning to me. "If you say so, I'll take you at your word. You're a level-headed kid. Just be careful, especially if there's anything else like this in there. You're playing in the big leagues now, kid. You know it!"
I gave her a serious nod in reply. "I'm as careful as I can be with things that could impact village security."
…
The 'group dinner' had quickly turned into what was effectively a small party. Despite not being her favorite eatery, Naruko had certainly made a glutton of herself. Satsuki had more of a sedate appetite, though she'd eaten nearly as much by the end of the whole affair. I'd had to encourage Yakumo to eat her fill for multiple reasons, not the least of which was that she was still acclimating to a vastly-increased appetite. Recovering from the worst parts of her sickness, I'd been coaxing her to eat larger meals as her activity level increased. Tenten, standing out as a complete opposite, needed absolutely no encouragement, actually giving Naruko a run for her money.
"Uuuurp!" Tenten belched as she stretched her arms over her head. She went red as I grinned at her. "Oh gods, I didn't just do that, did I?"
I snorted and flexed certain muscles before releasing a cloud of gas from my throat as well.
Tenten blinked, her eyes wide as she stared at me while we walked along. Her blush didn't fade, but a burst of laughter escaped her mouth followed by giggles and snickers. I rolled my eyes, but allowed myself a few chuckles as well. Wiping at her eyes, the bun-haired girl slowly came to her senses. "I can't believe you did that." She huffed a final laugh. "Thanks, though."
"You burped, so what?" I shrugged.
Tenten shook her head. "Yeah, you say that, but I'm a girl."
"It's a very strange world we live in that says I can see you naked to stitch up a bleeding wound on the battlefield but not hear you belch." I pointed out dryly.
"That is that and this is this." Tenten replied, her cheeks still stained the slightest bit of red. "I already acted too much like a guy to make many friends in the academy. Girls thought I smelled too much and boys thought I was weird for wanting to play their games."
Despite the government's best efforts to cut down the barrier between the sexes, children would always find lines to draw in order to discriminate, it seemed.
"I never liked hanging out with most guys." I replied at length as we walked along. "I used to not notice, but once I started getting older they always wanted to act tough and see who should call the shots. Too much ego." I shrugged. "Not that girls are that much better as a whole, but you, Naruko, Satsuki, and Yakumo care more about getting things done than petty bullshit."
Tenten grinned at me and looked around to the now-darkened streets. "It's kind of a shame you and I are the only ones who live in this direction. I don't get to see the others as much as I usually do." She frowned at me. "And don't think I've forgiven you for not telling me about my new jounin-sensei."
"Would you have believed me if I'd tried to warn you?" I asked, fixing her with a direct look. "Think about someone describing Might Guy and what you would have said before you met him."
Tenten paused mid-stride and cocked her head before slowly raising a single finger and nodding. "Good point. He's just... so weird."
I nodded. "He very much is, but you should be very grateful to have him as your team leader."
Tenten frowned thoughtfully at me. "Not that I'm not grateful, but... why do you say that?"
I paused in my own stride, thinking of a battle that might never happen now and considering what I should say. Staring at Tenten, I replied, "Might Guy is the greatest taijutsu master to have ever lived." Even in a world so different from what I knew, having met the man I felt sure of that declaration. He wouldn't settle for anything less than excellence in his own art and had the dedication to follow through on that desire.
The bun-haired girl reared back slightly, surprised. "R-really? That's, um-I mean..." Her brows furrowed. "How do you know that?"
"If you ever trusted me on anything, trust me on this." I stated with grave seriousness.
Tenten looked as though she wanted to ask further questions, but as she opened her mouth, the sound of footsteps caught my attention. Coming from the other end of the spacious alleyway we were taking to cut through a mostly-closed civilian shopping district, I forced a tiny bit of chakra into my eyes and opened the pupils wide. It was mostly a reflex, something that came from training with the girls, but there was also an element of curiosity to see who was out this late wandering around.
Two shinobi, both wearing chunin vests, neither of whom I recognized. One had brown hair and a heavier build, the other was skinnier with black hair. Neither had clan affiliation patches, tattoos, markings, or mutations.
"What'd I tell you, Aki? Right on his way back to the shop after doing stuff with his friends, like I said. I told them this was bullshit, that everyone says he's a good kid, but they want him brought in." The thick one stated.
The skinny one, Aki, shrugged with a carefree expression. "Alright, alright, next bar night is on me. Oi, you're Kotaro the blacksmith apprentice, right?"
I frowned, but nodded as I discreetly signaled Tenten. "That's me. How can I help two of our village's staunch defenders tonight?"
One of them smirked while the other barely reacted to the intentionally polite and sincere compliment. I chalked that up in the back of my mind on the mounting list of problems with this situation I'd already noticed.
"Just need to take you in, kid. Got some people who want to ask you questions," Aki stated in a smooth and comforting tone as they continued to approach. "Everything checks out, you'll be free and clear by breakfast."
I nodded. "Sure, sounds good. Do you mind if I tell Old Man Masara, though? He's expecting me back tonight and I wouldn't want to worry him or his wife."
"Don't worry about the old guy or his lady." The thick one waved me off as they finally closed the distance, never breaking stride or deviating from the near-apologetic and understanding tone. "If you get held up we'll send someone to tell them."
"Well, in that case I guess everything's fine." I nodded, extending out my hands to be bound as I smiled and continued in the same nonchalant tone, "Tenten, if you could set off an explosive tag?"
The two continued for a half-second, then stopped in the act of reaching out for my hands. Tenten, to her credit, had already pulled a tag from her mission belt and had her other hand on the sword at her side. Thankfully, we'd caught her on her way back from the training field to ask her out to dinner.
"Now hold on there, genin." Aki stated, narrowing his eyes at my bun-haired compatriot. "Setting off those outside of the training grounds is strictly prohibited."
"Don't worry, it's a low-yield one." I assured him. "Mostly just a lot of sound and light, not much concussive force. Worst thing that'll happen is that another shinobi checks things out and you have to explain how I forced a genin to break regs in addition to whatever charges you've got to put on me."
There was a moment of silence as we all stood still, my smile never wavering as my throat worked carefully in reverse in preparation for-
"Fuck it," the thick one stated suddenly. "You take care of the bitch, I'll grab him."
Aki lunged for Tenten as she tossed the lit tag to draw her sword, the other chunin going for my still-extended hands as I pursed my lips and spat a stream of concentrated stomach acid straight into his eyes and side-stepped him. A surprised cry almost instantly transformed to a pained one as he reached up to wipe away the liquid I'd sprayed with perfect aim. I took advantage of the uncoordinated moment by stepping up to his side and delivering a brutal blow to the side of his knee. He cried out in pain again, instinctively throwing his arms out to balance against the sudden lack of support. I obliged him by grabbing the arm he extended towards me, hyperextending it, then slamming a hammer-blow onto his elbow.
Then, as I was pivoting, the low-yield explosive tag exploded.
Tenten, looking rather harried and bleeding from what was likely a kunai strike, used the moment to break away from the combat. The chunin looked about to rush after her, but even as he did so, I triggered the seal on my foot and launched myself towards him to land in a crouch-
-next to his path, where I grabbed his leg with a chakra-enhanced grip and gave a vicious twist to his ankle, practically shredding the muscles with a chakra-scalpel while he fell to the ground. I raised a hand to deliver a knock-out blow before he could regain his senses and-
-felt my wrist being grabbed as I was swept up in a powerful hold-
-the world blurred, my sense of direction torn from me as I lashed out against whoever was holding me with my free hand, the arm twisting at an impossible angle to get at my attacker's spine because fuck this shit I was done playing around-
We hit the ground in a roll, breaking out of the super-charged body-flicker as I leaped to separate myself from my kidnapper.
Immediately taking the nearest cover, I watched as another non-descript chunin flailed weakly on the ground once, twice, then went still as his chest failed to compress after the damage I'd done to him.
My head pivoted as I tried to work out where I was... cursing mentally as I realized that I could see the wrong side of the village walls in the near-distance. Voices were rising on either side of me as I quickly realized an alert had been sounded.
I pushed energy through my body as I tagged the tree next to me with an explosive seal and set off for the walls at my fastest sprint. I didn't trust my handling of the body flicker in a dark forest, at night, with possible sensors on my trail and differences in elevation exponentially raising the cost of each use of the technique. I'd have to settle for quick hops and hope I beat whoever had tried to grab me, likely Root, back to the village.
