[Kukui Tanku]
Two AM. My mortal enemy yet my best friend at the same time. Most of my progress on my projects was done at this hour. Of course usually I worked on them for a long time beforehand, but it always seemed that around two in the morning, inspiration struck. Of course, today wasn't an exception.
After weeks of trying to find a word that'd work for the seal and trying all sorts of different matches, I finally found one that I thought could work. Adhesive. A binder that wasn't too weak or too strong. It should work with the words Receptacle and Equilibrated to create the seal. Or at least a seal that worked. It likely wouldn't be perfect. There might be word imbalance which would screw me over. But this was the strongest trio of words that I could probably use.
'I'm glad I have these with me...' I looked at my thesaurus and dictionary. They had been lifesavers during this process. 'Words have power... and god I wish they didn't so this would be something else instead.' Reading was fun for me. Skimming through the thesaurus and dictionary was not. Knowing I'd need to go through this process again later on for more original seals. 'Fuinjutsu really is bullshit.'
Literally the only reasons it was so hard as because you had to practically know the entire dictionary and or thesaurus and you needed to know how to write Kanji in very special ways for most actually good seals. Luckily for me I could do both... eventually. It was a lot harder than it sounded. It really is.
Especially since you need to have a perfect ratio of chakra to ink in chakra ink for it to work, most seals were actually Jutsu Shiki, and unless something was perfect it would probably blow up in your face.
I looked down at the seal I had prepared. It was only missing the one component. 'I thought it'd take months to do this. It still might. But if I could just make some substantial progress then that would be great...' I took a deep breath. I was nervous. I always would be nervous at times like these.
And that's okay. At least to me it is.
I don't need to do this on the first attempt. I could make a mistake or two. I had faith that I wouldn't though. 'Let's begin.' I began drawing the Kanji. It was a simple few moments to get the base Kanji down into the seal. In between the larger circle and smaller circle of the other two seals. I looked at the result. 'It seems to be missing something...' I saw no screen appear to the side of me. I wasn't going to give up yet though.
Maybe adding another two seals on the top and bottom of the Kanji for Receptacle would work? 'Worth a shot.' Quickly I wrote down the Kanji for the other two seals and I looked at my finished result. 'The Yin-seal feels a bit too uncreative. I think I'll call it the-' It looked like what I imagined my own Mangekyo Sharingan would be if I had one except in seal form. An idea came to me then '-Susanoo seal. If only there was a god of tricksters or something...' I then looked around. 'Why ha-' Right on cue I heard two pings and saw two screens pop up in front of me. I looked away. 'This is it.'
I opened my eyes and looked at the first screen first.
[New Skull Unlocked: Susanoo seal
Susanoo seal lv 1:
Cost: 200 chakra points
A one time use seal that when used can create a Genjutsu using the user's knowledge of chakra and their will
Capacity: 0/100 chakra points
Known Genjutsu: 0 ]
'Susanoo is said to be the god of storms. But he was also a trickster according to legend. Fitting if I do say so myself.' I looked at the seal's information. So I had to discover Genjutsu or something to use them? I filled the seal with 100 chakra points. 'I'll need to test it soon...' It wasn't perfect. it was like the ember seal. A one time use.
I needed to perfect it. I could do that later though. I felt drained. I should go to sleep soon...
But first I needed to check the other screen. 'A quest complete maybe?'
I was right. I grinned.
[Quest complete: Make an original seal
Rewards:
Title: Prodigy: User's stats and skills level up 15% faster
+1 levels to all stats and skills]
I switched my previous title out for Prodigy. That was way too good to not have on. 'It's beautiful...' I was apparently classified as a prodigy now by the system. 'What do I do now...' I just looked at the seal and its beauty... 'Might as well check everything else. '
'Stats.'
[Name: Kukui Tanku
Title: Prodigy
Chakra: 620/620
Energy points: 620/620
Dexterity: 31
Strength: 31
Constitution: 32
Chakra: 31
Chakra control C]
It brought a smile to my face. One larger than before. I really was leveling up quickly now... It had been a while since I got any quest rewards so this was really nice. Not only did I get +1 to my stats, I also got +1 to my skills. 'That's definitely going to help me a lot.'
I decided to take a look at my skills and see what level they were at now. It had been a bit since I had last checked. 'First the most important stuff.'
[Fire manipulation lvl 24
Increases control of Fire according to lvl
Fire jutsu use 24% less chakra
User is 24% more resistant to fire
Fire jutsu are 24% more effective]
It was my highest leveled skill so far. It was nice... just nice to see it highly leveled now. The initil struggle in learning it was so great it made me want to rip my hair out. But now it was just incredible! It was definately one of my favorite skills, even if it was more passive than anything.
[Intermediate Kenjutsu Lvl 10:
Increases skill level with a sword depending on lvl.
Increases stats by 2 when actively used
Cost: 15 Energy points a second]
[Intermediate Hummingbird-Fist Lvl 10:
Increases skill level with Hummingbird-Fist depending on lvl.
Increases stats by 2 when actively used
Cost: 15 Energy points a second]
Both are still a massive bitch to level for me. But their +2 boosts were decently usable now in fights. A +4 to my stats combined with running would probably make me fast enough to keep up with Fuu... I needed to try that sometime. 'Next is the Jutsu.'
[Earth Clone Jutsu lvl 8:
Allows user to create corporeal clones of themselves out of the earth that are a tenth as strong as themselves
Hand Signs: 3
Chakra cost: 43 chakra points per clone]
It went down five chakra points every five levels. It wasn't that bad. Sure it was costly but clones were always good. And the lowered cost did mean I could seal away more clones in my free time! That meant I basically had a miniature Army at my disposal. Sure all of them were relatively weak and some didn't come out of the seal correctly anymore but thy would help in any fight! I already had around 400 of them sealed away. More wouldn't hurt.
[Phoenix Flower Jutsu lvl 12:
User creates fireballs in their stomach they can spit out.
Cost: 8 chakra points per ball]
It wasn't my most used jutsu. Hell I haven't used it in weeks. But it might help me some time whenever my Flame seals were out of chakra and I didn't have time to refill them. 'Note to self, create a chakra battery next.' I nodded to myself as I went to my next screen.
[Flame Seal lvl 9:
Seal that stores fire chakra to be used in a one time powerful and precise attack or multiple smaller, cost effective, and creative attacks
Cost: 95 chakra points
Capacity: 620/620 chakra points.
Creator bonus: lvl's up 20% faster ]
It's kinda sad to see it below level ten still. But I didn't use the skill itself much since I tried to not destroy my flame seals. It was a pa-
"Kukui... why are you smiling that much? It's four AM?" I heard a tired, yet still happy voice. I turned around and saw Mika she looked at the desk and saw a seal. "Did you do it? Did you make the Genjutsu seal?"
I grinned but shook my head. "Not exactly... I made it's prototype though. It should work but I haven't tested it yet."
"You can test it on me." Mika grinned. "I wanna see how it works first hand. Plus, I need something to wake up and we don't have coffee sooo..."
I grabbed the seal and the piece of paper and my grin grew. "Want something horrifying or just weird?" Theoretically, the limit was the imagination. And my imagination was weird. I could make anything my mind wanted with a genjutsu theoretically.
"Just weird. Your brain can be scary Kukui and I really don't wanna deal with the trauma you could inflict upon me." Mika jokingly said. "Bring me the weirdest thing you can think of."
Something came to mind right away. Something not traumatizing, but weird. Something I remember from my past too. I walked up to Mika with the seal in hand and slapped it on her forehead. I thought of the Genjutsu and released the chakra. The seal dissapeared afterwords.
[Genjutsu known: 1]
I dismissed the screen and looked at Mika who flared her chakra before deadpanning. "Dancing cheese... Really?"
I nodded. "Really."
[Hayate Gekko]
"This aint bad." Kukui looked at his coffee as he and Hayate walked. "Not as good as the stuff in the land of rivers obviously but it aint bad." Kukui took another sip of his coffee. "Might have to get some more before we leave..."
"It isn't." Hayate finished his. 'So, you wanted to ask me a question earlier but you never got the chance to ask. "What is it?" Hayate noticed Kukui stop for a moment and think. 'Definitely a stupid idea.'
"Well... I made a friend literally the day we came here." Kukui looked up and Hayate had an idea of where he was going. "Mika and Tenten are also her friend." Hayate wanted to interrupt but Kukui held up a finger. "Before you say anything I need you to promise to not say anything until I finish."
'This is going to be bad, isn't it?' Hayate internally wondered. Did Kukui somehow kill someone with his friend and he needed help hiding the body? Or maybe his friend was another genin who's jonin was lousy and needed a bit of help? That wasn't too bad. Konoha and Takigakure were the closest allies in the history of the world. They often traded techniques at the Chuunin exams. "Alright. I won't say anything."
Kukui smiled. "Thanks Sensei." Kukui took a deep breath as they turned into a quiet alleyway. "My friend is Takigakure's Jinchurriki. Yes, I do know what those are." This time, Hayate stopped for a second. "The academy didn't really teach her much so me, Mika, and Tenten have been teaching her a bit. She's very physically strong and fast- faster than Mika and I- but she lacks skill and experience."
'He probably knows that Naruto is the Kyuubi Jinchurriki...' Hayate thought of asking about that but he refrained from doing so. If Kukui hadn't said anything then that meant he probably couldn't care less. "So, you want someone stronger and faster than her to spar with her so she can gain experience against stronger opponents?"
Kukui nodded. "Yeah."
'Simple enough I suppose...' Hayate nodded to himself. "Alright, but before I do so I'd like to ask a few questions."
Kukui nodded again. "Okay, I'll answer what I can."
'I'll have to be sure he doesn't lie about anything...' Hayate saw that Kukui was nervous. Only slightly but still. "Good. First, can your friend access their Bijuu chakra?"
"She can." Kukui then looked up. "But not a whole lot of it I think. The last time we sparred she used only a tiny bit at the end of it. I think that was her limit." Kukui rubbed his nose. That explained a lot about yesterday evening.
"Alright good to know." Hayate knew that Hiruzen was going to be elated at knowing this. Takigakure was usually very secretive about their Jinchurriki. "Do Mika and Tenten know?" Kukui shook his head and didn't say anything. It was time to ask more heavy questions. "So, do you know the story of the Yondaime killing the Kyuubi?"
"Bullshit." Kukui said. "I know who's the Jinchurriki and quite frankly, fuck most of Konoha for their intelligence being in the negatives." Kukui sighed then. "I'm not really that close with him to be honest but he's my friend and seeing Konoha just treat him horribly sucks."
"I understand." Hayate and Kukui began walking again, Kukui leading the way. " But they don't understand Fuinjutsu or chakra well. So we can't just be mad at them." Hayate looked around and saw no shinobi.
"I get it." Kukui looked around and saw nobody like Hayate did. "But it's still infuriating."
Hayate nodded. "It is."
Kukui then hummed. "So should we pick up the pace?" Kukui asked. "We're gonna be there in an hour at this rate and I kinda want revenge for my nose..." A small sadistic yet fond smile etched itself on Kukui's face.
"Yeah, that'd be a good idea. And anything will be better than the boredom." Hayate watched Kukui pick up the pace.
"Well, let's go!"
[Ryuuji]
Ryuuji knew this day would be perfect. The birds were singing outside, the sun was shining, and his spot was perfect. All he needed to do was wait for the Jinchurriki and whoever might be with her to show up and he would be golden.
First, he'd need to find out which one of them knew wind release just so he could take them out first. Then the fire release user. Once they were out, the Jinchurriki would be alone and easy to take down. Nobody would make it in time to help her.
Ryuuji looked up at the sun for a brief moment. 'Two PM.' It had been over twelve hours by this point. Ryuuji expected this. He planned on waiting a long time thankfully. So, he was prepared. He couldn't attack as soon as they arrived. They would likely be more weary of an attack as soon as they arrived. Plus it'd be great to let them wear themselves out a bit.
They would be easier to kill that way.
Soon, three people walked into the clearing, all of them talking. The first one was the Jinchurriki the other two looked unnotable except for one thing. Their Headbands... 'Konoha...' Thinking back to his meeting with Konoha Shinobi earlier in the land of rivers made Ryuuji grin.
Of course they were here. That was the only explanation. 'Hayate's other genin!' It made Ryuuji wonder where the other one and the man himself were. 'Attacking them soon would be a good idea...' But Ryuuji knew that wouldn't feel right.
There were only two things he could do that would feel right. Both of them involved Hayate being there... 'Maybe I should make a clone...' He could draw the man closer to the spot. 'I'll wait a bit longer.'
It would be a gamble, an extremely stupid and potentially costly one, but it would be so much fun if it paid off.
Ryuuji just knew he needed to try and hope Hayate would be here.
'Those two are quick for genin.' Ryuuji's eyes darted around as a figure bounced around, hitting another into the trees. Of course it was the Jinchurriki and one of the genin. The other one appeared to be writing something down.
Perhaps she was a fledgling Fuinjutsu user?
It'd be even more fun killing her. Fuinjutsu users from Konoha almost always ended up becoming powerful. There was Jiraya of the Sannin, Kushina Uzumaki(To be fair she was an Uzumaki), and Minato Namikaze for the most notable ones whose main skillset included Fuinjutsu.
So killing another potentially powerful shinobi would really be great.
And doing it in front of Hayate would be even better!
'Huh it's already over... she must pack a great punch if all it took was a few hits to get her to yield.' The Jinchurriki and the other genin shook hands and were happy. 'It'll all be ruined when Haya-' Ryuuji's smile grew three sizes then.
Hayate was there with the final genin. 'Now's my cue!' Ryuuji stretched his arm out and jumped down, swiping his arm to try and hit them all at once. Before the arm could land it's mark though the last genin 's eyes widened.
"DUCK!"
All five people ducked to the ground and Ryuuji's arm flew right over them before coming back to him and going back to its normal shape and size. Ryuuji chuckled. A sensor! Oh another person who's death would be so sweet to inflict.
Then, Ryuuji's eyes locked with Hayate's
Hayate froze. "The Rubber Man..."
Ryujji grinned and pointed to himself with a comically large and stretched out thumb.
He needed to lower their guards somehow, okay.
"That's me!"
[Kukui Tanku]
I expected a lot from today. A lot of bad really. But it wasn't anything nearly as bad as what was currently happening.
I glanced to my left and saw Hayate frozen... fear. A deep, primal fear. Not the best time for that. 'You don't think Jonin can be scared because you think they've survived it all... But everyone has fears.' Fuu and Mika were also frozen. Tenten was quietly reaching for a scroll.
Meanwhile, the asshole interrupting us was tapping his foot on the grown with a massive grin. Just taking in the sight... He wasn't even worried. He was just standing there, looking at us with a huge smile. "Your move." The man hummed and grinned. He was looking
'I need to do something.' I glanced around. Hayate was still out of it. His eyes were very telling of how he felt right now. I looked at Mika, Fuu, and Tenten and then looked back at Hayate. I kicked the back of Hayate's leg.
At the same time, Tenten threw a Kunai at the Rubber Man's neck. The man's neck stretched and moved out of the way of the Kunai...
Meanwhile, Hayate shook his head rapidly. "Thanks... I shouldn't have let that happen." Hayate unsheathed his Katana and glanced at Fuu, Mika, and Tenten. "All of you, fight to kill. I won't tell you to run away. He will catch you if you try. We need to work together if we want to win."
Mika and Tenten nodded. Fuu looked hesitant for a second before nodding. I sensed the Nanabi's chakra spike a bit. I nodded at Fuu and smiled.
The Rubber Man chuckled. "You think you can beat me? I remember the last time you tried over 20 Chuunin, Genin, and Jonin died to me. I intend on finishing what I started." The man took a kick from Fuu before throwing her back at us. No damage had been done... "Good try girlie but you're way weaker than I am."
"Damnit." Fuu grit her teeth. "What's this guy's deal?"
Hayate glanced at Fuu. "No idea." Hayate looked at the Rubber Man again. He still wasn't moving. "I have no idea why you're here or how you even found Takigakure but as Konoha is an ally of Takigakure it is my duty to stop you. And I will do that, even if it costs me my life."
The Rubber Man stopped himself from laughing before smiling. "You think you can kill me? A single Jonin and four genin? You're fucking hilarious man." The Rubber Man dodged a slash attack from Hayate's sword, a fireball from me, a spear from Tenten and a scale-powder explosion from Mika and Fuu. The Rubber Man whistled, looking at the destruction. "Huh. That's a lot of firepower, You won't be landing that on me though."
The man channeled earth chakra to his leg and stomped on the ground, making the creator from our previous attack larger before jumping in. He gestured for us all to enter the pit, standing there with a relaxe smile...
'Overconfident bastard.'
I looked at Hayate. I then reached into my pocket and grabbed a scroll. "Tell me when."
Hayate nodded. "I will." Hayate locked eyes with the rubber man. "I want to tell you all to run. I really do. But he's fast enough to catch all of you. It's do or die now."
"We'll just kick this prick's ass then!" Mika threw away her weights. I did the same. I honestly forgot I had them at this point.
I drew my Katana and also locked eyes with the Rubber Man. I looked at Hayate and back at my friends. "We'll fight to kill... He's underestimating us, that'll be his downfall," Hayate said, his face contorted into a frown.
Everyone nodded. It was time.
We all jumped into the pit.
I'm not looking forward to next week when I'm obligated to write another chapter. I had fun with this chapter and all but writing the fight scene is going to be painful. Anyways, this chapter is so far one of my favorites. A decently long one too. I'm kind of tired since it's Christmas day so if there are any egregious errors, sorry for that.
I feel like I should explain this chapter though.
So, Kukui making the Susanno seal. I hadn't intended for it to be this early. But it just sorta made sense. Pushing it off wouldn't have made much sense considering he was close. So I just decided to give him the Ember Seal equivalent. EDIT: For those who read alter chapters, I absolutely forgot about the Susanno seal. So, I apologise if anyone was looking forward for that. It likely won't make an appearance until chapter 60.
Other than that we have the stuff that's going to lead to next chapter. Pretty neat to me.
Anyways, goodnight everyone!
-Tobi