Preparing for war was no easy feat.
Obito and Zetsu were off building their massive Zetsu army, said Zetsu were patrolling the Elemental Nations for any sign of Tamako and her posse of misfits, but let's be real, even if Obito found them, it wasn't like he could kill all five of them by himself. Konan had already bugged the entire sea with her explosive paper seals, Itachi had the entire base in a wide-range genjutsu that naturally suggested any wanderers to wander back where they came from and Kisame himself was a deterrent. That man had enough chakra to fuel Tsunade's Byakugō several times over.
Tamako was a little jealous.
But Kisame was more of a teacher than she could ever ask for. He showed her ways to better utilize suiton, taught her multiple techniques and just one day training with him was far more than her bitch of a sensei Kaito had ever done for her in a whole year and half.
Kisame really was fit for sensei-duties, and she would love to one day hear of him complain about his cute genin pups.
He taught her his version of the Water Dragon, how to splinter the bullets of Water Bullet, and most importantly, how to wield the katana masterfully. When she forged her usual tanto, Kisame had chuckled and snapped it with two fingers.
"A tanto? Don't tell me you were trying to emulate ANBU. The tanto is for the unskilled, a common weapon." He pulled out a katana from a sealed scroll and gripped it. "Before Samehada, I was the best kenjutsu katana master of Kiri." Then he swung.
The clashes were heavy, the katana was much longer than her usual tanto and she struggled with its uneven weight. "Don't use the katana like the tanto, use it's weight! Take a feel for it." He swung down and she caught his blade an inch from her flesh. Sweat dripped down her temple and her bones creaked. "Forget it, your tanto skills are from trial and error, no? Then." He grinned so evilly, shadows casted on his face. "Trial and error we shall."
Tamako took it back.
Kisame with little cute genin would be child abuse and negligence.
Unlike Kisame, Itachi was much more patient. His memories of teaching Sasuke were at the tip of his tongue, as he guided her through practices and showed her the signature Uchiha jutsu, Great Fireball Jutsu. "Are you sure?" She asks. She already knew the hand-signs, where she should clinch her chakra and to coat her throat. It was all guttural, that jutsu, why else would the Uchiha communicate with hms, hns and grunts?
"Yes." He said, slowly going through the hand signs as his chakra swirled dangerously in his belly. He pinched the chakra at the base of his throat, the fire flowing through his fingers as it burned away in the air, the sound of water sizzling beneath their feet. He turned to her with a small smile. "There aren't any Uchiha around anymore to teach but..." He paused, his arms falling to his side. He looked nostalgic. "You are family."
Itachi knew she viewed Sasuke with familial love, saw him as a brother. But that alone shouldn't warrant this old Uchiha Tradition, its monumental symbol of Coming of Age, of official acceptance into the clan.
She shook her head, "What I feel shouldn't dictate and bend an old tradition." She sighs in the air, now used to the salt in the winds. "You never know, perhaps Sasuke will settle down and there will be little Uchiha about." Then with a snicker, "Maybe you too."
The lines on his face crease with his small grin, "Perhaps. But to form a family means to bring one in." He turned towards the now dusking sun, "Now, learn."
There's a pause in Tamako's mind as she ponders his words. What did he mean?
She glances at the man in front of her, now twenty-one and will soon live on past his fated death.
He wanted to teach her his clan's traditions, and didn't refute the idea of marriage nor children. It was so strange, because the Itachi she understood, the one she nearly gave her life to save, was always planning his death.
Was it because she gave him, what he perceived, to be a second chance of life? He wasn't tied down to death anymore, he had a future to think of.
Her heart warmed at the fact, because Itachi's will grew beyond his dedication to just Sasuke, but to himself as well.
"Alright." She said softly, walking forward and stopping beside him. She copied his signs but ended on horse, her chakra erupted from her lungs and focaled around her throat. With a deep exhale, she spewed out a massive fireball, much larger than his, in a controlled manner, blowing through her horse sign and doubled down on the chakra around her lips and cheeks, protecting them from the very fire she spewed.
Slowly, she halted the chakra flow and turned towards Itachi with a grin. "Who do you think helped Sasuke train? I am a ninjutsu specialist, even if fire isn't my element."
His eyes, framed with long eyelashes, widened before he threw an arm around her shoulder and tugged her towards his body. He let out a laugh larger than life, a laugh she didn't even know Uchiha's were capable of. "Of course. No wonder Sasuke's Fireball Technique overpowered mine." There's tears in his eyes that refused to fall from his laughter as he doubled down. "Did Sasuke already teach you?"
Tamako shook her head, bugged eyed in bewilderment, "No, but I watched. Offered him some insight about what the seals represented. He was smart enough to figure it out on his own."
"Good." He spoke with such assurance and relief, leaving Tamako more puzzled than ever.
Why were the Uchiha so confusing?
Thankfully, Deidara was someone she completely understood.
His long blonde hair was always so fun to braid, adding her crystal flowers and Konan's paper ones made him more beautiful than any woman she'd met in her journey. He always let her play with his hair, he said feeling the fingers tugging at his skull grounded him back to earth.
Deidara was so incredibly him.
He helped her craft her crystal in a way that centered its balance, reduced her unnecessary chakra expenditure on smaller details and focused on the big picture. "It's always good to make something beautiful and artful, but the idea is to keep producing art, not to knee off and die after creating one masterful one." His fingers dug into his clay as he molded a miniature dragon. It was in his style and so very cute, she leaned her chin on his shoulder enraptured at each pinch and pull of clay.
"Deidara, how did you discover your love for art?"
He hummed, "Iwa had these beautiful statues scattered throughout the village. When I was a kid, I wanted to be the one to create them." His hand-mouth chewed on the clay and spat it out into his other hand. "So I went to a civilian school to learn the craft. On the first lesson about incorporating chakra into our fingers to get the finer details, I blew up my work that I've been focused on for nearly four months already." He snickered, "Sensei got so mad, because I blew a hole in his academy but..." He smiled softly, "... this was much cooler."
Tamako almost rolled her eyes, "Kids and their obsession with explosions."
He shrugged, "What can I say? Bright lights, loud noise, it seemed to capture everyone's attention. Art is something that can enrapture an audience, and my art always seems to get it." Then he pouted, "Then that damn Sasuke figured out how to disable my clay bombs, that asshole!" He fisted his hand and destroyed what he was working on. "I need to get around that..."
For once, he walked off in a trance, dragging the girl along with him, arms crossed as he went through simulations of his explosion kekkei genkai. "Why don't you incorporate explosions to your taijutsu?" Tamako asked, eye-leveled with the man. "You're fast, and your taijutsu isn't something to scoff at. If each punch, touch and kick had explosion chakra, then your enemies would become the art."
He swung his head at the girl, "So will I."
"Coat your limbs with your own chakra, a thin layer should do it. Your explosive chakra backlash will bounce back."
He paused.
Tamako sighed, brushing her hair behind her ears, "I'm a ninjutsu expert, you know, don't be so surprised."
He lunged and gave her a noogie, "I'm the older one here, show some respect!"
"My hair! Stop!"
As much as she understood Deidara, she still couldn't predict his tics, and that's why she loved him.
Konan, on the other hand, was a deep sea of calm. The slow lull of gentle rain.
The woman spoke in gentle tenures, she was everything Tamako strived to be. Gentle but intimidating. Full of love, but for the greater good.
Slowly, Tamako taught her more Fūinjutsu than just paper bombs, incorporating stasis seals, tracking seals and the not. "You would've liked Karin." Tamako said, her brush stroking against the chakra infused paper. This was her last inkwell of Karin's making.
"The Uzumaki?" Konan asked, her paper seals folding into a crane.
"Yes, she's very good at Fūinjutsu. Better than me, maybe better than Jiraiya one day."
At the mention of Konan's old sensei, the studio stood at a silence. It wasn't awkward or suffocating, but full of nostalgia. "Jiraiya-sensei once made Yahiko, Nagato, and I wear these frog suits." Her face was pulled in sentimentality, a wisp of a smile. "Back then, we had nothing. But Jiraiya-sensei showed us how to fish, though he always took the largest serving." The crane flapped its wings and circled the two girls lazily. "But we were happy."
Tamako licked her dry lips, her mouth forming words before she could think through them properly. "I think I was happy too. My mother left me at an orphanage when I was born. The village was in a crisis, there was a lack of funding, sometimes kids died." She mused at her past memories. Back in Sunagakure, life was all about survival. Pleasing the matron, getting her fill. "Somedays I starved if I came home too late after practice, one time I passed out from chakra exhaustion, and woke up to these horrible burns all over my body." She snickered, fingers caressing her arms, "But I think... I think I was having fun."
She did have fun. Training was fun, learning her Kekkei Genkai was fun, and spending time in the ID Dungeons were even more enjoyable. It helped her trick her mind that this was all just a game, the village's sufferings were a bygone memory. The loneliness filled.
Konan grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "You were a child. Still a child." Then softly, her palm was placed at the back of Tamako's head and pushed the girl towards her body in a loose embrace. "Children are not meant to thrive in conditions. But you did. I did. We did."
The embrace was warm, she'd never been hugged like this since— since Yoshima before she moved out into an apartment. A maternal hug, a motherly one. She missed it.
Tamako clenched back, digging herself into Konan's bosom and the woman didn't mind. "For what's the Akatsuki had done, I'll never regret taking in Itachi at thirteen. You at thirteen. At least you two were protected." She sighed, "It was Obito's idea to string you up back then. I hated it. You were so young. And Nagato... he was jaded."
"It's okay. I understand." She pulled back and met Konan's eyes. "Truly, I do."
Konan truly was an angel.
Despite her love for Konan that encompassed the sea and back, Tamako herself was no angel. She couldn't emulate her.
Not when she forgot Sasori in a room for the past year.
How in the world did she forget? She passed by the room hundreds of times, all sealed up and never even thought about him. Tamako stood in front of the room with dread. The side of her vision was a transparent hologram that revealed her current relationship status with all her bonds. Dutifully ignoring Sasuke's, she glanced at Sasori's.
[Akasuna no Sasori loves you! (100/100)]
What the hell had she done?
The girl paced back and forth in front of the door, trying to figure out a solution to fix her problem before she reached a hand out, her fingers grabbing onto the paper seal and ripping it.
She'll have to take responsibility.
The door creaked ominously, the lantern she'd provided was already out for who knows how long, leaving the Akasuna no Sasori in the dark for all this time. With nothing but his thoughts in his mind.
Shit.
The Puppet ahead of her couldn't crane its neck as she dutifully disabled his entire body and chakra pathway, only his eyes widened as they examined her body, almost peering into her soul.
"You're here!" He shouted, his voice turning almost gleefully. It was a far reach from his lazy drawl full of disregard and disinterest. "I've missed you."
"I... missed you too, Sasori." Tamako spoke carefully, walking up to the Puppet and bent down to reach eye-level.
His eyes widened before they cresented, "Really! Oh good. That's good."
She reoiled his joints and connected the false tissue and muscle, ripping off the chakra seal and the Puppet sprung on his feet and engulfed her in a hug faster than she could react. He breathed deeply into her hair and sighed. "You won't leave me ever again now."
Instantly, dread filled her body at his words, they were tinted in a high pitch lull and her eyes grew heavy. "W.. hat did.. y...ou—" She slurred out, her body relaxed and he caught her with his arms.
"You forgot to close my tenketsu to my eyes." He spoke softly, gently caressing her hair. "I painstakingly crafted this sleeper agent and doused my body with it everyday. I know seal work too, you know. Chakra strings to my eyes are elementary." Her eyes drifted down his body, eyeing the seals on the backside of his torso.
Shit.
"Now, we can be together. Forever."
Her vision grew dark and soon she was met with the iconic window of:
[You died!]
[You have satisfied the necessary means of obtaining the secret route!]
[Would you like to view?]
[YES] [NO]
She'd only seen this window once before, back when Nagato used her body to replace the Asura Path in pettiness. Watching her body move was so strange, but she was curious what Sasori was up to. If not a little scared.
Did he turn her into one of his puppets?
Hesitantly, she clicked yes.
Her vision warped, and she opened her eyes.
There, she saw Sasori undress her unconscious form and carved out her body into the perfect canvas. He placed seals over her head, heart and core. They trailed down to each eight gates on her body, and he continued to paint on every inch of her skin, soon scripting on the very ground itself. He carefully darted around, avoiding smudging the lines before pricking his thumb, letting a single drop of blood at the center, right by her heart.
Instantly, the seals hungrily absorbed into her chest, carving out a hole before filling into a cylinder shaped form. She saw the chakra in her body, all of it, pathways and all, absorbed into the center.
It was grotesque but so interesting.
The art of human puppetry was bizarre and repulsive, it tickled the intellectual part of her brain and absolutely bothered her morality. She summoned her save file and internally groaned.
[You cannot access the Save Files at this time]
[You are experiencing an event that cannot be skipped]
Then, he drained her blood, carved out her organs and hollowed her out. He then lined her innards with a material she couldn't put a finger to, lacquering her body both inside and out, peeling her skin, removing the muscle, tendons and bones and replacing it with that same material in rod-like shapes. They were chakra receivers, a different type than what the six path uses.
If she was in a body she would've hurled already.
They all connected to the core over her heart, and with one last pulse of chakra, she was ripped out from the view and placed into a husk.
There was a bright light shining down on her, she could still feel her chakra but something wasn't right. There wasn't that hidden urge to breath, nor the pound of her heart.
She panicked.
"Oh, you're up?" Smooth and silky voice sounded out.
Her head whipped to the source, Sasori. Then, she glanced at her hands, smooth but held no warmth. The only thing warm was her core by her heart.
"It was difficult trapping your consciousness and chakra within, but I've painstakingly managed. You are the most perfect art I have ever created."
"You turned me into a puppet!?" Her voice was shrill and her heart, no, no heart anymore. Her mind descended to a full panic as she called upon her chakra. It moved smoother now that she has increased the threshold of just twenty percent, she had nearly eighty-percent, in fact she felt like she was drowning in her chakra.
The average shinobi only had access to only twenty-perfect of their chakra at any given time, jutsus like the eight gates allowed one to push through that threshold at the cost of health. But Sasori's art, it surpassed it.
"What did you do?"
"Now that your chakra isn't wasted on things like organs or heart, your chakra pathway now only takes up a single cylinder, capable of outputting eighty-percent. The last twenty fuels the core, but it's more than acceptable for the power-up." He leaned in close, his red hair brushing against her cheek as he held her in an embrace. "Now, we'll never be separated, ever again."
She would admit, she drove this man beyond the insanity she found him in, he was talented but this was just not right. Her status said he'd loved her, but anyone who loved anything wouldn't do something like this.
"Now you can't leave me. Not anymore. Not like last time."
What has she done.
It took her three more tries to disable all the traps he had set up for her, even stringing along Itachi to cast a genjutsu to ensure her safety. She avoided the dark looks Itachi gave her throughout, diligently putting away the traps, unsealing the hidden poison and dousing Sasori in a weak suiton.
"I always wondered what was in this room." Itachi spoke, arms crossed.
Tamako giggled nervously, "I was... a little busy you see. Left him unattended a little too long..." She finally reoiled his joints, unlocking them, reconnected his chakra pathways to his core and ripped off the chakra seal. The Puppet sprung to his feet for the fourth time, engulfing her in a hug that Itachi instantly twitched out a kunai.
"Tamako, my love!" Sasori sang, "I've missed you! It's a shame that you came prepared but my feelings have nevertheless haven't changed. Would you spend all of eternity with me?"
Itachi raised an eyebrow, the kunai in his hand twirling dangerously, "What happened to him?"
Tamako sighed, patting Sasori's head. He was shorter than her, and it was almost funny how dangerous he was, even more so than the last time they'd met. "I don't know." She rubbed the red locks absentmindedly, ignoring how the man in her arms purred, "I guess I learned my lesson. Don't leave mentally deranged S-Ranked men unattended for long periods of time.
Thankfully, Itachi roped Kisame into caring for the Puppet after he deemed the man untrustworthy around Tamako and took it upon himself, and forcefully Kisame, to rehabilitate and train him for the upcoming battle.
She giggled nervously, hopefully the two could fix her mess because she didn't really want to herself. She tried taking responsibility and look where that got to her.
The forbidden ending.
She shivered, her hands reaching to her heart and appreciating the steady ba-dum ba-dum.
Maybe once he was rehabilitated, she could then take responsibility. Six months with her would even out the one year of sin, right?
. . .
The days were spent subsequently training alone, training with others and observing fights. Watching by the sidelines where Kisame, Itachi and Sasori fought was always nice, and she smiled and waved at Sasori who gleefully peered towards her, his hand moving so fast it was a blur of waves.
It was a little cute, the man was shorter than her and was dwarfed by Kisame, that monster of a build he had, and even Itachi, who had put on a ton of muscle made Sasori seem like a misshapen chunin getting scolded by his superiors in a fight.
But when he took out his puppets, it was a different story.
Narrowed concentrated eyes as he summoned the Third Kazekage, using in tandem with his own body that the pair were trying to train him with, among other things. He has gotten better at utilizing his body, and thankfully they managed to confiscate his poison because Tamako wasn't about to kidnap Sakura to fix things if either of the two were poisoned.
And only once did she have to stop Itachi from Ameterasu-ing the red-head Puppet.
Progress, she concluded, clapping her hands when Sasori's voice of did you see? Did you see? sounded from the clearing.
With Itachi's new eyes, he was able to spit out as many techniques he wanted without having the physical backlash, and Kisame's endless pool of chakra equated with his stamina, both of them going on for the past two hours with Sasori's inhuman endurance keeping up.
Tamako merely watched the three, taking a few notes of Itachi's improvement and re-tallying his score, nodding when they passed Jiraiya.
A few stray Suiton and Katon made her way, as she quickly brushed them off with a few shield here and there, sometimes needing to kawarimi across the training field when Itachi decided to awake a goddamn perfect Susanoo, oh that Uchiha is so lucky that I places seals all around this island that cuts off chakra waves, he's basically a homing beacon of chakra!
Kisame responded by transforming with his sword into his shark form—what the fuck— this is suppose to be a spar! Not a goddamn fight fest!
Not wanting to be a causality in their spar when Sasori began to three wield himself, the Kazekage and another shell of his backup body, Tamako left that portion of the Island to bide her time somewhere more useful.
Deeply inhaling before exhaling, "ID: Create."
Instantly, her view of the forest warped into a demonic over-world, fire splattered on nearly all of the surface while a large, dark, castle stood at the very top of the mountain.
Around her were monsters of all kinds, gargoyles, demons, succubus, incubus, and many more. Glancing at their levels, she immediately knew to stay clear from most the demons in the vicinity, their levels reaching around 350 while the gargoyles, the weakest, ranged from 100 - 250.
Inserting the information into her mind, Tamako walked forward with [Sneak] activated, slowly meandering her way towards an isolated gargoyle, and began her observation.
It's been awhile since she'd had enough free time to start hacking back at the instant dungeons, too preoccupied with all that Uchiha mess.
Gargoyle
Species: Lower Gargoyle
Level: 248
HP: 30,475
CP: 12,738
Part of the lowest branch of the Gargoyle, it's health and defense are very high, their attacks are focused to be blunt damage. This particular species is now known for intellectual thinking or planning, making it unable to hunt in groups.
Very good at close-combat, able to withstand large attacks but unable to dish out the same attacks. Its major weakness is high pressurized water based moves, physical attacks are not recommended.
Her eyes trailed after the insane health bar, the stupid thing had three while herself barely had two. After re-reading the very last line, she shrugged, these things are weak against Suiton, this should be easy.
Slowly, Tamako formed hand signs at a steady rate before jumping low and dashed towards the unknowing lump of rock, a single finger laced with chakra honing towards the center of its body.
Suiton: Water Decapitation!
A thin like of water sparked from her finger as Tamako got up nice and close, her finger motioning to the side. The gargoyle made the smallest peep, standing still for a few seconds before the top part of his body slid off slowly from the bottom, a thud sounding out when it reached the ground.
The bottom part slowly tilted to the side before reaching the same fate, its entire body glowed a familiar blue before disintegrating into tiny windows that formed into one large window.
Rewards:
+500 EXP!
+250 Ryo!
The satisfied girl dismissed the window with her hand and moved on to the next. Grinding in small groups soon turned into groups of five when she realized her Water Decapitation proved to be an instant one-hit KO to the weak gargoyles.
Easy EXP, easy money, easy leveling.
Tamako's lowly Level 397 self, which was still nothing to scoff at, managed to reach to 431 after committing genocide to the gargoyles, bringing her Unspent Points to 439. She hadn't spent any because she hadn't encountered an enemy so difficult that required more than two reloads, and most of the time she got her way.
Somehow.
And after Pein's Assault on Konoha, the new [Skill Shop] opened up but she didn't have any time to really go through it since right after dying, Sasuke ended up barging into Gokage, forcing her to immediately chase after the boy.
Checking at the clock located right under her HP bar, she sighed. Quickly saving this world for a later time, "ID: Escape."
The world around her materialized into the familiar wooded areas, dewdrop and wet grass assaulted her nose, almost welcoming compared to the burning ash that crusted her lungs. Coughing into her fist, Tamako slowly walked towards a familiar cave, watching the sun set slowly.
Inside, she could sense both Kisame and Itachi by the kitchen, their chakra levels lower than usual, and Sasori meandering around in his room. She completed a few hand signs that allowed her to move the boulder and allowed herself in.
Her eyes met an almost comical sight, Kisame's dark cloak he favored after abandoning his Akatsuki cloak was all in tatters, clutched between his fingers as he painstakingly glared at the offending hole as if it would fix itself.
Itachi, on the other hand, couldn't stop himself from forming a mini Susanoo arm that slowly reached towards a plate of Dango resting on the coffee table, the Uchiha himself, resting on the worn couch with his arms around the couch. His clothes were dusted and his hair released from his low loose tie.
Instantly, their chakra faltered to a stuttered stop, Kisame's hands released the cloak as Itachi's Susanoo's arm stopped midway from returning to the plate of dango.
Pointing at the Susanoo with a deadpan, "Really."
In fractions of seconds, the Susanoo dissipated and Itachi's stoic look was plastered on, slowly sitting up, his fingers inching towards the dango before he slouched back, treat in hand.
Kisame's chakra flickered, like he was hesitant, before he finally stopped the staring contest between Tamako and that Uchiha, "You think you can do something about this?"
He raised his cloak at her eye level.
She sighed deeply.
. . .
After watching Itachi take advantage of his newly found Susanoo, now without any of the hinders, he basically used the technique as a third arm in every activity, only dissipating the appendage during sleep or during her daily check up with his lungs.
It became such a daily occurrence that Tamako happened to accept it already.
Pushing those thoughts in the back of her head, she continued her daily visits to the other world, grinding the newly spawned Gargoyles, increasing her level and her skills, actually some doing some actual grinding. Before, Tamako was unable to train with Obito breathing down her neck and Sasuke decided to become a nuisance which made her watch the younger Uchiha like a hawk.
Sure, she could've let Sasuke run rampage by himself, but if he died in the process? Itachi would actually create mass havoc and she would be the first one on his hit list, probably.
So now that she has all this free-time to prepare, it was to grind grind grind.
She spent every living breathing moment in her dungeon, sometimes leaving for a second to drop off a message to Itachi and Kisame letting them know she's on business and that she's still alive. Somehow.
Her small 431, shy from a mastered Jonin, turned into 492 after annihilating the entire dungeon and looting. She went through two different dungeon, her "hell-like" dungeon and the snowy biome which spawned the final boss of this giant ice-globe—
It was horrifying.
But the rewards were satisfying, her grabby greedy fingers taking in the rewards of new armor that she equipped, invisible in the real world of course, that increased her defense and speed tenfold.
Pocketing some jewelry that was dropped and stuffing potions in her disorganized inventory, she was satisfied that she will survive the war. Her new power gave her the confidence, the new eye-bags that formed under her eyes darkened but it didn't matter because she was gonna survive the war!
She escaped the dungeon and returned to the base after a month, yes you read that correctly, she leveled up nearly 100 times in just three months.
Fear really takes people far.
Her dark eye bags alarmed Kisame, but after he stopped and measured her chakra, he nodded appreciatively. Tamako winked at the shark-man and collapsed on the couch, her head against Konan's lap as the woman read over the newspaper. With her eyes barely opened, "So, how was your preparation going?"
She didn't even bother to hear what either two had responded, passing out gleefully and closing her eyes to a dark ceiling.
. . .
When she came to, a plate of eggs was shoved into her face. Eyeing the bubbling meal, she took it carefully, as if it were to be an explosive, and poked at the dark eggs with the provided chopsticks.
"What is this?" The former Suna affiliated kunoichi asked carefully, watching with wide eyes when the wooden chopsticks melted when it met the black eggs.
They were eggs, right?
"I think they were eggs?" Kisame spoke with more questions than statements, poking his own plate before slowly placing the plate on the coffee table.
Grimacing, she [Observed] the plate before equally putting the plate far from herself.
Those stats were in the negatives and the "cooked with the famed Amaterasu gives it a smoky burnt taste that resembles its blackened exterior" description called many red flags.
With a snap of her fingers, both plates were encased with crystal before shattering into nothingness. "So, while I was gone, how were things?"
"Well, Itachi's finally got this Susanoo working, he managed to summon each limb separately and conserve chakra so that's a plus. Sasori seems... better? No seriously Little Miss, the hell you do to that guy? He was the second most stoic after Itachi, now he's like a mangled kid! On other things, I think we almost broke the seal via chakra overload?" Kisame was incredibly talkative today.
Konan sipped her coffee and pushed the plate from her. "I placed some counter-measure seals for the time being, but we'll need you to fix them up."
Quickly, Tamako fingers shoved themselves into her sleeve and pulled out a few tags before slapping them across the cave, creating a clone to do the same around the perimeter of the area.
Massaging her temples, she sighed heavily.
"Yeah I figured it wouldn't be pleasant if we broke them so they're barely holding on the past few days but once I saw you last night, we were saved!"
So then, the summer was spent well, Tamako continued to level up via ID's, both Kisame and Itachi continued to spar (which needed weekly seal improvements), unfortunately, she had to ban Deidara from training in the underground training ground after he had discovered a geyser and proceeded to flood her entire base, only saved by Itachi's average understanding of doton.
Mass-producing her tanto, kunai, shuriken and other things she believed were necessary and placing them into her inventory in stacks of 100s proved to be a good investment, even sharing a few with Itachi since he liked shurikens so much. If the war was going to start on October 8 and end October 10th, she needed to conserve her chakra.
If she wasted a chunk of it trying to make her own weapons during— well, that's just plain stupid. She already stockpiled HP potions and chakra pills, and she was soon going to cash in all the jewelry she got from the drops.
Opening the [Shop] located on one of the tabs, she slowly dragged each pouch, unused jewelry, armor, anything she deemed useless into the shop, watching the yen grow rapidly and racked up to a nice, beautiful 25,000,000 million.
Roughly.
Gushing at the amount, she gleefully clicked [Sell], watching the money gather in her inventory. Tabbing out of the [Sell] and tapping on the [Buy], she scrolled through the entire inventory before exiting, nothing good.
Glancing at her Character Status, she noted her bountiful skill points, she tabbed open the [Skill Shop]
Stretching her fingers, she leaned closer to the window and began scrolling down, skipping the skills like [Blacksmith], [Sculpture], [Woods Working] before grinning when she finally found the lethal skills.
In theory, one with Doton and Suiton would be able to have Mokuton or Shouton, right? But Kekkei Genkai need a specific gene mutation, Kekkei Genkai are just mutations in the end. However, even if you are skilled in both styles, you would never be able to form crystals nor create trees in concrete, because you are missing the catalyst for it.
And the catalyst? That mutated gene that can support the Kekkei Genkai. But if this was true, then the only way a person could use Mokuton would need that specific gene, so in theory, Danzo should have Mokuton because he fused his arms with Hashirama's cells.
But the cells were unstable, and he was only to sprout wood when he ripped his arm off, and that was not in control, it was unstable.
Why?
If someone used their brain, connected the pieces of Hashirama himself and his cells, they would come to one conclusion.
It's chakra control, and she bets, Yang Release.
With equal Suiton alongside equal Doton ratio— that is Mokuton. Hashirama's cells are able to create this union because of their mutated prospects. Hashirama created his Mokuton, it was not passed down.
So, in theory, one with mastery of both elements with extreme chakra control could have an unrecorded attempt.
Finding someone of that caliber?
Impossible.
You need the one-hundred percentile of control, any less and nothing would happen, this high number that not even the medical prodigy who is the granddaughter of Hashirama is able to even have both elements mastered to the third degree. She does indeed have an extensive understanding of her chakra, to the ninety-sixth percentile at minimum.
But Tsunade is missing that elemental mastery.
This entire theory could amount to nothing, but going through territory that none have ever tried because it is nearly impossible to accomplish—unless you have the system to guide you.
Tamako spent her entire life playing with crystal that are formed using the desired elements, discovering at a young age that the ratio of Suiton and Doton was a forty-sixty ratio with a healthy dose of Yin Release. It was her imagination that created crystal out of nothingness, her Yin Chakra molded the crystal to her needs.
Starting her chakra base at the rough Doton, before adding the smooth Suiton little by little until it formed the perfect ratio was easy, she didn't even have to think thanks to her genes, but a fifty-fifty ratio?
With her chakra control at the ninety-third percentile, it was impossible.
But at this moment, her eyes that scaled at [Mokuton], the points needed to purchase were 1000 points, something she could never save up— yet an epiphany had hit her.
Recalling that skill she saw the day [Skill Shop] was added... [Chakra Control]. Clicking on the skill, another window opened up with the description.
[Chakra Control]
-This skill is a consumable skill that is activated immediately after purchase, can be purchased multiple times
-Will increase your chakra percentile by one point, each purchase after will become more expensive
-[5] Skill Points - [10] Skill Points next purchase.
Her control was at the ninety-second percentile, she needed eight more for that legendary one-hundred. Using math, it'll take exactly 180 Skill Points to raise it, if it continues to increase in price increments of 5 Skill Points.
She had enough to purchase, shooting straight towards perfect chakra control. She could do it, she totally could. Wasn't this a sign from the system to invest into my theory? But after scrolling pages after pages, she couldn't find neither Yin nor Yang.
Nevertheless, this game was about to end, she might as well have fun with her overpowered Kekkei Genkai if she can, right? Shouton was much cooler than trees anyways, prettier. She should probably keep this opinion to herself, lest Hashirama fight her to the death.
Far too long she spent under-leveled, her neck being breathed down by massive powerhouses such as Pein and Obito, far too long she spent playing the servant with lies.
Although, the faces people would make, the twisted image she forged with her own two hands that managed to get her grabby hands on the famed Mokuton? The fear on their faces, the last time this famed kekkei genkai touched the world had a powerhouse breath down the entire Shinobi World until his demise?
How would they feel that such an unfiltered power was caught in her filthy hands?
She shook her head, slapping her cheeks from those bad thoughts. She was a good girl!
Instead, she tapped on the [Chakra Control] ability eight times and quickly exited out of the [Shop], running towards the forest far from everything and sat on the floor. Staring at her fingers, watching her [Crystal Manipulation] understanding reaching Mastery, the price for every jutsu reducing harshly and a new title—well that's something that doesn't happened for very often.
[You have satisfied the necessary requirements to receive "Perfect Control" Title]
[- Have Hundred Percentile Chakra Control]
-When this Title is equipped, the CP consumption for any skill is decreased by 30%
[Rewards:]
+50 WIS
+50 INT
+50 DEX
Tamako gaped at her new title, equipping it without hesitation, eyes closing when the sudden increase of CP was introduced into her system before slowly opening her eyes. Staring at both of her hands, she felt unstoppable.
Placing her palms down on the soil, she slowly gathered a lump of chakra that resembled the hard exterior of Doton, slowly pouring the soft and flexible Suiton, eyes twitching when the task was far easier than she had thought. Pulling her reserves to a complete stop, her hands full of the perfect fifty-fifty ratio that she had created in seconds— exploring territory she could never get passed before.
Then a thought occurred to her. It didn't hurt to try, right?
Then pouring into the soil, feeling the dirt underneath her palms rumbling, tumbling and moving as it were alive.
She opened her eyes, backing away and continued to feed that concentrated point with the perfect ratio, her [Gamer's Mind] activating when the ground underneath her sprang up and throwing her into the air.
Instantly, she was on high alert, the air around her filled with uprooted dirt. Focusing chakra, she laced it around her legs and feet before twisting her body like a trained acrobatic and calmly landing on her feet, turning her eyes to the monstrosity she had created—
She was right,
In front of her, its trunk spanning 20 meters, the hunk of it overshadowing the preexisting trees around it and hovering over it as if the entire forest was its own child. The roots were large and bulging, some wrapped around the trees around it as it held itself with a sense of ancient foretelling.
She was right.
Character Status
Name: Tamako
Class: The Gamer
Age: 16 Years Old
Title: Perfect Control
Status: Empowered (+10% in Attack)
Level: 492
HP: 38,000- HP Regen: 13 per 1 seconds
CP: 42,340- CP Regen: 18 per 1 seconds
Strength: 530
Vitality: 521
Wisdom: 611
Intelligence: 572
Dexterity: 574
Agility: 523
Luck: 496
Fame/Infamy: -87200
Sunagakure no Sato is confused
Konohagakure no Sato is suspicious of you
Kirigakure no Sato has named you #1 Public Enemy
Iwagakure no Sato acknowledges you
Kumagakure no Sato has named you #1 Public Enemy
Akatsuki had discovered you are a traitor! (-35/100)
Akasuna no Sasori loves you! (100/100)
Deidara cherishes you! (10/100)
Uchiha Sasuke no longer has faith in you! (-12/100)
Uchiha Itachi holds high faith in you! (25/100)
Uchiha Obito has a unfavorable opinion about you! (-90/100)
Uzumaki Karin idolizes you! (30/100)
Konan follows your will! (10/100)
[DECEASED] Pein Nagato forgives you and understands your intentions! (90/100)
Money: 25,600,270 ryo
Unspent Points: 320