Chapter 17
Night had fallen across Iwagakure and Shinji found himself walking a familiar path to the ANBU headquarters. The boy was solemn and dressed in his former uniform, sans the mask that caused him to be so renowned among the ranks.
Two guards stood outside the headquarters, ones Shinji knew all too well. He greeted them with a nod, which they returned and moved out of the way for him to enter. Entering the building revealed a quiet tone, not all too uncommon for the ANBU, yet it was a different kind of silence. There was a tense aura in the building as everyone who was there, was there for one purpose. The funeral of their former commander, Oni.
Walking the halls as he did so many times before, he entered a spacious room that had candles set up in the corners, casting a hazy orange glow. A podium was set up at the adjacent wall and Shinji noted a few familiar masks and persons, notably Yokai, Tengu and their respective squads.
Next to the podium lay a single mahogany casket with the banner of Iwagakure draped over top. He walked past the various groups of ANBU and approached the casket, ignoring the welcomes from other agents. Shinji rested his hand on the banner of Iwagakure and found himself grating his teeth. 'He should have the crest of Uzushiogakure instead.' he thought sorrowfully. If any agent saw his eyes, they would see Shinji trying to light the banner ablaze with his gaze alone.
Shutting his eyes tight, Shinji sat down in the front row, gaze never leaving the casket where his mentor would permanently rest. Compared to the others, Shinji was the sole agent without his mask and garnered the attention of others. Whispers of him disrespecting their commander hit his ears, yet he would ignore them. None of them understood what kind of man Kenji truly was, and Shinji would not be the one to shatter their image of him.
Everyone else began to settle down and sit in their seats as more agents filed in, most having to stand off to the side due to seats filling quickly. As everyone settled, Yokai was the first to walk up to the podium.
Those gathered remained silent as they waited for Yokai to begin speaking, and after taking a silent breath, he began. "Today…today is a sad day for Iwagakure, as most have been in this accursed war. Oni was perhaps the best of us." he looked over the crowd through his masked visage as he continued.
"For some he was a teacher…" his eyes landed on Shinji, "...for others, a friend." He put his hand on his chest then, "...but for all of us, he was our commander, only outranked by our Tsuchikage." Everyone in the room paid rapt attention, shinji included, to the words of Yokai.
"And now we find ourselves without our leader." Yokai's head dipped slightly and he walked over to the casket, putting his gloved hand overtop the Iwagakure insignia. "I only hope you find peace in the Pure Lands, Oni." The quiet statement met the ears of those in the first couple rows.
Taking back his hand and putting them in his pockets, he looked back out into the crowd. "If anyone has something they wish to share, the podiums yours." Yokai walked off the stage and Shinji could feel the stares of multiple people on the back of his head. Unsurprisingly, the former ANBU stood from his chair and walked up.
Looking out into the crowd, he saw the familiar masks of Hideo, Kappa and a couple others and found his resolve strengthened, even slightly. "I first met Oni when I was four years old. He called me a runt and by all accounts, I was." a mirthless chuckle escaped his mouth. "He was the one to sign me up for the academy a year early. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what he saw in me and yet he took me under his wing and trained me when he never had to."
Shinji could see small conversations happening based on the slight tilts of masks through the crowd, but not Yokai or Hideo. Those two never took their eyes off of shinji. "The fact is, Oni was one of the few individuals I would consider a friend, even going so far to say he was like a father figure to me."
"He guided me through the hell we call the shinobi world and it's not inaccurate to say I owe…everything to him." Shinji took a moment to gather himself.
His teal eyes did not show sadness, "Oni left me with a wish, one final mission. He wanted me to find happiness-to do what made me happy. And know this, Oni did not leave us in the hands of someone lesser." eyes landing on Yokai, Shinji begrudgingly came to terms with his next statement.
"Whether my word means much or not, Yokai has my personal vote as the next commander of the ANBU." The silence was broken by mutters from the crowd with most ANBU either looking surprised or nodding in approval. Hideo even stood up and looked at Shinji, as if asking if he were serious. Shinji merely nodded his head toward him as he looked at Yokai.
Yokai's attitude did not falter, the mask on his face never moved except for the slight nod of acceptance and thanks. Shinji looked back into the crowd of masks he knew he would probably never see again and found his smirk coming to his face. "It's been an honor working alongside all of you." He stepped down from the podium and spared one last glance at the casket holding his mentor.
Without another word, Shinji began to leave, having said everything he needed to. As he walked in between the rows of chairs, the masks of other agents turned to him yet he paid them no mind, not even Hideo. As Shinji walked through the building, he was met by Yokai who stood in front of him. He nodded his head to the side, indicating shinji to follow him, which the boy did.
They entered into a small office with papers scattered about on the marked up desk. There was a map of their nation on the wall with pins marking each of the fronts they were facing, and it did not look good. Shinji stayed looking at the map, all of the bodies and names he would never know all dying each day on every single one of these fronts.
"I wish it could end." He heard the gruff voice of Yokai say as he moved to behind the desk, reaching into a drawer.
"Same here. Hopefully if you make commander, you can make it so." Shinji replied, putting a lot of faith in Yokai. Pulling his gaze from the map, he saw Yokai pull a large bottle from the drawer as well as two small saucers.
"You know I can't drink." Shinji informed as he stepped closer to the desk. Yokai popped the top off the unmarked bottle and poured out two servings, one for each of them.
"We're not drinking to get drunk, kid." yokai said as he handed a saucer to Shinji who took the small saucer filled with the clear liquid in his own hands. He found himself chuckling.
"Sometimes I forget I'm a kid." The statement was quiet, yet the words were not lost on Yokai.
"Tengu told me of your decision to leave the force, is that true?" yokai asked as they both held their saucers of sake.
"Yea, it's true." Shinji said quietly as he swirled the sake in the saucer, seeing his reflection in the alcohol. Good memories of his first weeks within the ANBU causing all sorts of heads to turn at his presence flashed through his mind and a more peaceful smirk came to his face. "I'll miss it somewhat."
"Then we drink in celebration of your early retirement." Yokai said with a hint of amusement in his voice. He lifted the mask off of his face revealing a bald man with no eyebrows and scars along his eye, nose and mouth. "Not many of us get that luxury." Yokai said quietly as he held out his saucer.
Shinji clacked his saucer against Yokai's and downed the liquid in one sip. He began coughing as the liquid burned its way down his throat and settled within his stomach. "You're supposed to sip it kid." There was a smirk on Yokais face as he took a small sip from the saucer.
The two settled into a silence, only broken from the sounds of Yokai sipping from his saucer. Before long, he finished his drink and held out his hand. "I may have hated you and what your presence meant for us, but it was an honor serving alongside you." Shinji looked at the hand for a moment before he grabbed the hand.
"The honor was mine." Shinji went to remove his hand, but found it with a vice-like grip. He looked at the closed eye expression of Yokai who grew serious.
"I wouldn't be doing my job if i didn't say this…" his face got closer to shinji, "If you ever pose a threat to our village, i will hunt you down like a dog." The threat was evident and received, yet Shinji did not find himself scared or nervous.
"That's why you have my vote Yokai." After a moment of staring, the two released their hands and Shinji soon left the ANBU headquarters. Hands in his pockets and the slight burn from the alcohol still in his throat, the boy walked back to his home. On his path, he noted the sight of a red armored man eating dinner at Bao-dacious and decided he would get some food.
Sitting in his seat, Shinji gave his usual order and as the steaming buns were placed in front of him he looked over to Han. His armor was damaged and the man looked tired under his large hat with his left arm being held in a sling. "Rough day?" Shinji asked as he took a bite from his pork bun.
"Hm." was the grumbling reply of the jinchuriki as he too took a bite from his meal. There was a particular part of his armor that was damaged that resembled a swirl of sorts. 'Wonder what kind of technique caused that.' Shinji thought to himself as he resumed his meal.
"Must've been some enemy if they did that to you." Shinji pointed to the swirl-like battle damage while sipping on his water. Han looked down to his armor and was angered at the sight of the damage.
"The Yellow Flash." he ground out as he clenched his fist. "We were too damn arrogant." Han slammed his fist on the table they were sitting at and caused Shinji's drink to tip over.
"You survived an encounter with the Yellow Flash?" Shinji questioned, shock evident on his face as he picked up his glass.
"Barely. Roshi's worse off." Han took an angry bite from his bun. Shinji stayed looking at Han, still unbelieving someone, let alone two people who survived an encounter with Minato Namikaze. After a moment, the boy returned to his meal and soon finished. Grabbing his take home order, Shinji bid farewell to Han and Mr. Sasaki and soon disappeared in a body flicker.
Entering his home, his clones were moving throughout the house. Going into his workshop and subsequently his lab, he saw Deidara and a couple of his clones instructing the boy.
Deidara was concentrating in a meditation pose with a leaf in between his fingers with multiple of Shinji's clones moving about the lab working on experiments. "Hey Deidara." the original called out to his younger brother who was startled and dropped his leaf. Shinji tossed the dinner to his younger brother and dispelled his clones, a wave of memories rushing over him and causing a minor headache.
The blonde child tore into the buns provided to him and with a mouthful of food, asked Shinji how the funeral went. Shinji shrugged with his smirk as he walked over to his tables, going over some notes left by his clones and then finally looking over to the three vials that made his stomach drop.
"Your clones said something about that being a witcher formula? What's a witcher?" Shinji did not respond and instead looked into the viscous green liquid. He had to make a decision, now or never as the shelf life of these concoctions would not last much longer. In a manner that was unnerving to deidara, Shinji grabbed the three tonics and then climbed up the ladder.
"Wait, Shinji!" Deidara stood and followed his older brother into his workshop. The older boy was placing the beakers into chambers of the pod he asked about earlier with the machine coming to life. Mechanical whirring was heard and transparent tubes could be seen filling up with each of the three tonics.
"You asked what a witcher was." Shinji took off his top revealing his bare chest marked with scars and opened the pod with the press of a button on its side, unlatching and opening the glass lid with a hiss. "A witcher is a mutant." Shinji's gaze landed on the internal seat of the pod, seemingly lost in its leather appearance.
"I want you to note every thirty minutes what happens on this monitor." pointing out the monitor for Deidara, he explained what he expected his little brother to do. After explaining, Shinji took a deep breath and climbed inside the pod.
"Whatever happens Deidara, you will not open this pod, am I clear?" Shinji was strange, his eyes seemed to be full of pain but the tone in his voice was not. It was anger mixed with deadly seriousness.
"But what if-" Shinji stopped the question right there.
"Am I clear?" He repeated the question, which Deidara nodded to. From an unseen button on the interior, the lid closed and shut tight. Looking into the pod, Deidara saw the angry expression filling Shinji's teal eyes that looked to him. "Press the big red button." were the only words heard, muffled as they were through the glass.
Walking to the front of the pod, Deidara did indeed see a big red button and after some trepidation, pressed it. The machine came to life with whirring and steam, lights of the room flickering and some even popping.
Deidara watched as a multitude of needles extended from the inside of the pod and began inching their way to Shinji. They stopped for a moment, before inserting themselves into the older boy's body. The scream that followed would go on to haunt Deidara for years to come.
He did his best to drown out the screaming, but nothing he did would silence the bloodcurdling scream from Shinji.
Four days later
Shinji's screaming had long silenced, Deidara supposed it was his vocal chords finally giving out. The glass lid of the pod had fogged over, which made the young boys note taking increasingly difficult, at least for the physical aspects of Shinji, however he kept a watchful eye on the monitor all the while.
The only thing that would make this whole ordeal even worse would be the boredom that came with it. Deidara yawned as the monitor kept beeping, pencil and notepad resting right beside him and noticed he would have to write down another entry in a couple minutes as the clock on the wall slowly ticked away.
Eyelids beginning to grow heavy, deidara couldn't help his eyes from shutting. However he would get no sleep as the pod began to hiss. His eyes shot open as he stood tall, hovering over the glass lid that began to slowly lift up. It seemed as though the lifting lid was too slow as a hand from inside gripped the edge and threw the lid open, breaking it off the hinges and throwing the lid across the room and shattering the glass.
Deidara looked worried as the room filled with a thick, and strangely cold steam. Trying in vain to waft the steam away, he watched as a shadow stood in the mist.
"Shinji?" He found himself asking for his brother. The steam began to clear and the azure eye from deidara widened at the sight before him. Shinji stood at the edge of the pod, hair down and eyes directed at his hands. His hair was the first notable change. Instead of the pure black head of hair, it was now split down the middle with one half being black and the other being a shiny silver. Shinji stood from the pod, slightly taller and stockier than he used to be and covered in well defined muscle. Turning to look at his younger brother, Deidara was a little scared at the eyes that met him. Instead of the angry teal he saw before turning on the machine, he was met with golden cat-like eyes that bore down on him.
"It worked." Shinji breathed out, still unbelieving. His smirk returned as he started to chuckle and that chuckle soon evolved into full blown laughter. "Holy shit it worked!" Deidara couldn't believe it either as he walked forward.
"What the hell was that?" Deidara asked as he looked at Shinji who gathered himself.
"That, little brother, was the trial of stone. how a human becomes a witcher." Shinji responded as he looked over the pod that now had fried circuitry and multiple broken panels. "Probably shouldn't have torn off the lid like I did. Oh well." he thought in a lackadaisical manner aloud. Not harping on the pod too much, Shinji decided he needed a change of clothes.
Going across his home and into his closet, he tried on multiple shirts but none of them fitting properly. He sighed to himself, "I guess that's another side effect." he said as he tossed the last of his shirts into the closet and shut it. Walking back out into the living room, he saw his recently purchased cloak resting on the back of the couch and threw it over himself.
Deidara came out of the workshop, yawning all the while finding the whole ordeal to be extremely tiring. "Now that this is over *yawn* I'm going to get some sleep." jumping onto the couch, within moments the sound of snoring filled the room. Chuckling again, Shinji went into his bedroom and grabbed a blanket. Tossing it over the boy, Shinji decided to take a look over the notes Deidara made.
After going over the notes, Shinji decided he would run a couple errands while Deidara slept. Exiting his home, the sky was darkened but to Shinji, it was as if the sun was still at its apex in the sky. A smirk was brought to his face as he remembered the first time he saw midnight as midday as Gaston. Shaking his head, he made his way to one of his favorite shops in the village.
The smith at Stoneheart Armaments was filing away paperwork and preparing to close up shop for the day, that was until the jingle of the door opening caused him to sigh. "Welcome to-Shinji?!" Upon turning his head and seeing one of his best customers, the smith went wide eyed at the sight before him.
"Evening Teo." Smirk ever on his face, he walked forward and up to the front counter. Teo had a sweatdrop forming on the side of his head as confusion and shock formed on his face.
"What-What happened to you lad?" he asked through a whisper. Shinji took off his hood and looked at Teo through his golden cat-like eyes with his split hair tied back.
"Let's just say an experiment of mine finally paid off. Now, how's my commission coming along?" brought out of his shock with the question, Teo went to the back of the smithy and came back with something wrapped in cloth.
"I finished only a few days ago. Gotta be honest, i was hard pressed to find some of the materials you asked for." The pride in Teo's voice was palpable and Shinji agreed the pride was well placed. There was never any work Teo did for Shinji that resulted in the boy being disappointed. 'I'm gonna miss him as my go-to blacksmith.' he lamented inwardly.
"Which is why I hired you in the first place." Before inspecting his commission any further, Shinji went to a rack on the wall and picked out some combat shirts as well as a couple tunics, ones that properly fit this time around.
"Due to the nature of some of these materials, some of them will cost you a premium." Teo flashed a grin to the boy who looked back up with a deadpan stare.
"Ever the business man, Teo." Shinji chuckled as a brown bag came from inside of the boy's cloak.
Taking the hefty bag from Shinji with a smile, "Gotta wife and a newborn to feed." He laughed heartily as Shinji chuckled.
"Indeed. It was a pleasure having you as my blacksmith, I'll see you around." Waving the boy goodbye, Teo was stuck on what Shinji said.
"Did…he just break up with me?" Teo asked no one as the door to his shop shut with a thud.
Softly shutting the door to his home, Shinji saw the sleeping form of deidara sprawled out on his couch snoring and drooling away. Walking past the boy, Shinji sat at his dining room table and placed his commissioned piece on top. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small box he placed to the side and picked it up. Opening it and tossing the box away, he let the medallion depicting a manticore dangle from his hand.
Placing the medallion around his neck, his attention diverted to the cloth wrapped piece. Unraveling the cloth like a child opening presents on his birthday, the newly mutated witcher marveled at the craftsmanship that lay before him.
A thin, sleek black sheethe with a metal tip covered the blade and rested against the guard that had each end twisted in opposite directions. Moving further down the guard, resides a twisting handle made from the horn of a buffalo and a steel pommel depicting the same beast on his medallion. Unsheathing the sword revealed a thin blade with damascus patterned metal that was dark in color, but had curious star-like shapes speckled throughout. The premium Shinji paid was well worth it in his eyes as the sword, known as an estoc, was a true work of beauty.
"Very nice indeed." With the sword still unsheathed, Shnji moved to his back lawn where he conducted most if not all of his training these days. Silently shutting the door behind him, he began testing his new blade.
A few well practiced swings that had more force in them than ever before resulted in a smirk on Shinji's face. "Light, fast…" eyes landed on a nearby boulder and with confidence in his chest, thrusted the blade forward.
There was not full effort placed in the thrust, yet the fact remained it sank into the rock like a sewing needle in the finest silk. Taking the blade back and giving a hard slash with the primarily thrusting weapon to the boulder, Shinji stood back and waited for a few seconds. Before the top half of the boulder began slowly sliding in a diagonal fashion before falling to the ground as one solid piece. "And durable as hell."
He remained outside getting a new feel for his blade as well as the new mutations that still settled within his genes. Every movement shinji made his heightened senses rang out, he could hear the presence of wild animals in the distance, smell the sweet scent of sap falling from the trees, felt every contraction his muscles made as well as see small, imperceptible details that even the best jonin would miss.
As Shinji incorporated his new sword into his fighting style, a memory began to wash over him. Ones not from Gaston's life, but that of his new one. The sight of a tired, yet beautiful black haired woman flashed through his mind in an instant and caused him to merely chip the bark of the tree he was aiming at. She had tears running down her face and a pained smile as she looked down at him. Ghostly pale, sweat causing her hair to stick to her forehead, yet the loving smile remained ever present.
'Who was that?' he thought to himself as the image of the woman stayed in his head. Sheathing his blade, he noticed how there was a tremble in his right hand. 'Maybe he'll know.'
Akuma Sato made another tally on the concrete wall of his prison cell, a shaky white chalk like joining a cacophony of others. He sighed to himself as he rested his head against the cold stone wall, a slight shiver running down his spine. The idle dripping noise he heard at all hours of the day mocked him as he sat there with a resigned expression.
'How many more years left on my sentence now? Three?' Fingers meeting his temple, Akuma nursed the coming headache. A scurrying was heard, he supposed it was another of the rats that inhabited the cellblock. 'Maybe it's Nezu coming back to say hi.' looking for his named rat, Akuma saw nothing. He heard nothing, not even the endless dripping noise that had haunted him since he began his sentence.
Standing on mildly malnourished legs, he gripped the bars of his cell and looked around. It was so dreadfully quiet and the former chunin had no idea what to make of it. But if there was one thing he learned in his years as a shinobi, is that when everything goes quiet, something is out there. Akuma backed away from the iron bars and backed up into the wall of his cell, only the wall was far closer than he remembered.
That was when Akuma realized as he turned, he did not back up into a wall at all, but someone in his cell with him. Startled at the presence of the hooded man, Akuma fell to the floor, eyes wide with fear. "H-How did you get in here?! Who are you?!" he asked in rapid succession.
The man glided across the floor with no wasted movement and crouched in front of Akuma, bringing his face mere inches away from his. Akuma could see the golden cat-like eyes that stared into his own teal orbs and began to cower away.
"You look like shit, father." The voice, angry and deeper than he remembered, met Akuma's ears as recognition and confusion crossed his bearded face.
"Shinji?" he asked as some cowardice fell away and was replaced with shock.
Standing tall, Shinji took off his hood revealing his new appearance to his father. To say the man was stunned was the understatement of the century. "What happened to you?" he asked as the silver side of his son's hair had a dull glimmer in his darkened cell.
"I didn't come here for you to ask questions. I came here for you to answer one." holding up a single finger to exaggerate his point, Shinji's brow furrowed. Akuma remained silent but the look of shock never left his face. "Recently I've been seeing images, or more accurately, memories. I see a woman with black hair, pale skin and looks like she's about to keel over in a hospital room. Who is she?"
Not knowing what to say at the broad description, Akuma stumbled over his words for a second before a memory of his own flashed in his mind of a woman with the same description. The last moments he shared with his wife ran over his mind and brought a sad smile to his face. He felt himself gripped around the collar of his prison uniform and brought to his feet as if he weighed nothing at all but the smile in remembrance of his wife never left. "I know you know Akuma, tell me!" he yelled in the face of his father demanding an answer, a growl escaping the mouth of Shinji.
Akuma may have been a lot of things, and an opportunist being one of them. Not allowing this opportunity to learn a sliver of what was happening in his son's life pass him by, he disregarded his son's words and asked his own question. "Why does it matter to you? You seem to be doing just fine with your life."
"I'm not playing your game Akuma!" rage crossed the boy's face before he calmed himself and settled for a piercing gaze instead as he dropped his father on the floor in a heap. "Now tell me. Who is she?"
It seemed Akuma would not get the conversation he desired. Exhaling heavily through his nose, Akuma adjusted his posture and sat cross legged as he looked up at his son. "For someone so smart, it's taking you far longer than it should to piece it together boy." Akuma said that caused shinji to begin to interrupt, however Akuma held up his hand and silenced him. "Just think about it for a second. You have an incredible memory, it's actually kind of scary, so you tell me who you think it is you're seeing."
Contemplation spread over his son's face as one moment turned into minutes. Akuma sighed, "Sit with me a moment will you?" about to vehemently deny his father however Akuma spoke first, "You wont learn a thing from me otherwise."
Scoffing, Shinji remained still for a moment before he took off his cloak and sat down a few feet across from his father. "Happy?" he asked in a sarcastic manner.
"Positively beaming." came the reply of Akuma before he got down to brass tacks. His demeanor completely shifted, where he was once a pathetic inmate of the Iwagakure prison, he now resembled a somewhat respectable bum.
"When I became a genin, I was placed on a squad with two others as all genin are. We all went through the same motions I'm sure you're familiar with. D-ranks, training, the works. The three of us became a small family." Akuma let a faint smile adorn his face but it did not last.
"Then my squadmate-someone I considered to be my brother, who I trusted with my life, killed our third teammate and then tried to kill me." Akuma clenched his fist but his face did not quiver.
Truth be told, Shinji was actually pretty invested in his story so far, considering the possibility that his father was maybe a good person at one point. 'But this is still the man who abused me for years going so far as to try and kill me.'
"Then, I met a woman." his smile returned, but Akumas vision went blurry. "Her name was Yukira and she hailed from the land of Iron."
Eyes widening ever so slightly, Shinji paid attention. "Raven black hair, drop dead gorgeous and a complete book worm. We first met on a mission, her caravan was attacked by a group of bandits on their way to Kumo. I was then chunin and my squad at that time were on a diplomatic mission to Kumo. We ended up running into her Caravan and well the rest is history." As he finished, Akuma waved his hands toward Shinji.
"Where was she from?" the young witcher found himself asking with not anger in his eyes, but genuine curiosity. Being the only information he'd ever heard about his mother was an altogether new feeling, for both lives.
Akuma was grateful Shinji was allowing him this moment and he continued to share. "She was from a small dump of a town, Kachinkiri. Nothing but gambling rings, brothels and uh…bathhouses."Akuma chuckled and he didn't know if his time in prison had gotten to him, but he caught the slightest smirk for only an instant from his son. "But yea, small town in the land of Iron, luckily in one of the few parts where it doesn't snow year round."
Shinji brought a finger to his chin and adopted his thinking pose, going over a potential location and goal for once he left the village. 'To cross Earth country into the Land of Iron would take two weeks at least, excluding weather, shelter, food and water.' a smirk coming to his face upon the revelation of a new plan.
"Kachinkiri huh? Well then, it seems my mind has been made up." Shinji muttered under his breath before looking toward his father, face changed to one of impassive dismissal. Father and son stared at each other, that lasted for what seemed like hours.
"Thank you for…this Shinji." Akuma gestured between the two of them, "It means a lot."
Shinji scoffed and got to his feet, equipping his cloak and throwing on his hood and walking over to the cell door, he did not spare his father a second glance as he spoke, "I meant what I said Akuma, you look like shit. Try shaving once in a while." and then his son disappeared in a cloud of dust.
He couldn't help the hereditary smirk from coming to his face, "I'm proud of you son." he said aloud as the skittering of Nezu could be heard.
Shinji would appear just outside his home in a quiet mood. Entering as silently as he left, he walked inside to see Deidara still sleeping and somehow in an even more chaotic state than he last saw. It wasn't the boy's appearance that bugged him, but the sheer volume of his snoring. Shinji though did not feel tired, he hasn't since he first stepped out of the trial pod.
So with so much free time, Shinji brought up a single hand seal and with three quiet puffs of smoke, three exact copies of himself were summoned into being. One went down into his lab, the other into his upstairs workshop while the original and last clone outside to his "training yard." With a puff of smoke, two scrolls appeared in the original's hand. Shinji looked down at the one in his hand titled 'Adamantine Sealing Chains' as his clone observed the other titled 'Sealing.'
"Alright Kenji, let's see how tough your clan's secrets are to decode." he opened the scroll and after a preliminary scan of the paper, his head hung slightly. "You're really not gonna make this easy even in death, are you?"
"Uh boss, we got an issue." the clone, sounding worried, alerted the original. Looking over to the worried expression on the identical witcher's face, "I can barely read this."
Shinji found the energy to sigh. "Shit."