[Ryuuji]

'Fuck.' Ryuuji glanced at his clone as it was patching his back up. 'Nearly grazed my lung... Just barely missed anything important but it broke a rib... I won't be able to stretch my torso as much.' That was bad.

At least the wind brat didn't kill him. It would be the ultimate shame to go down to a bunch of brats and a singular Jonin. Although, Ryuuji had to admit that the brat's were good. Ryuuji remembered when he was their age, he still hadn't discovered the Rubber Release yet.

And that as before he was betrayed by Kumo.

'Shitty times...' Ryuuji felt another stitch enter his back... 'Yeah, I'm going to need to be careful next time.' Ryuuji knew he fucked up. He got cocky and that was his downfall. That wouldn't happen next time.

'Can't let Hayate near them... I'll have to attack when it's just the brat or brat's.' Without Hayate there, Ryuuji was confident he could kill all the genin. He knew their tricks. He knew what they could do. He wouldn't underestimate them anymore either.

It would be a clean sweep next time.

'Fuck.' Ryuji felt the final stitch go in and hit a rib. Be careful, bastard," Ryuji glanced back at his clone.

"We aren't medics. I barely know how to do this," The clone blankly said. "The fact that I haven't peirced any of our vitals is astounding,"

"Fair point," Ryuuji grumbled to his clone... Honestly, Ryuuji didn't know if it could be called that. It had a different personality. "Smartass," Ryuuji grumbled before feeling a flick to the back of the head," Dick," Ryuuji corrected.

"I don't know why I'm even doing this," The Ryuuji clone said as he finished. Ryuuji turned around and saw his clone flip him off. "See you again the next time you need your ass saved in some way, loser!" The Ryuuji clone took out a Kunai and killed itself.

"I swear it was all the drugs I took when I learned the Jutsu..."

Standing up, Ryuuji stretched and groaned. He of course still felt tremendous pain but that was something every Shinobi would know at some point. 'Let's see... the brats and Hayate shouldn't have recovered yet so I can spend some time recovering somewhat as well.'

Ryuuji made another clone. "Go get me some pain killers,"

The clone, seemingly much more obedient than the last one, nodded and left. Ryuuji let out a sigh of relief. Finally a break. Ryuuji sat down and looked around. He hadn't gotten much time to really inspect his surroundings.

A wooded area with plenty of cover... Nice... But then again, it could get obliterated instantly. 'That brat was strong...' Ryuuji recalled the fire attack the fuinjutsu using brat did. "Fire Fist... weak name," Ryuuji chuckled.

'Kukui Tanku... that may be a name I remember.'

[Kukui Tanku]

'Where am I?' I looked down. I could see my body so I wasn't in the void. Although everything was dark. Including the floor... 'Isn't that a fire?' It burned bright. I could see it. It was far away though. 'Running.' I felt nothing though. 'Running?' I tried to summon the screen and nothing came up... 'Oh no.' I took a deep breath. This was a dream. A bad one probably. But still just a dream.

'Guess I'll walk to the fire to see what's special about it.' I began walking at a normal pace. I had no need to be speedy. Since this was probably just a dream I'd either reach the fire or wake up to pain. Lots of pain. I was hit in the head with a rock. The fact that I'm still alive is a miracle.

'It's... beautiful.' I could vaguely make out the silhouette of the fire now. It was simply beautiful. It was probably the only thing that seperated this place from the Void. 'The Eternal Flame.' My mind provided me with a name for the fire.

I walked closer to it, only to see a hand appear out of it. And then nothing.

I heard a ping, opened my eyes, and I darted upward. 'Where am I?' I glanced around. A hospital room. 'I'm alive... And head's covered in bandages... Yeah I imagine that doesn't look pretty.' I put a hand up to my forehead. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? Years? 'Okay not years... I don't look taller than before.' I looked at a window nearby. I could see my reflection... I didn't feel too much like shit. 'Alright, I need to find someone fir-'

"He's awake!" I heard before I was tackled to the ground by a familiar blur. This time I wasn't in a Konoha training ground. "How are you awake? It's only been two days!" Mika squeezed me tighter and I groaned. It hurt.

"Get off me... I can't breathe," Mika let go of me and I stood up and wiped some dust off of me. "I'm awake, yes..." I went back to the hospital bed and only then I realized Fuu and Tenten were in the room as well. "That was a shitshow. Is Hayate-sensei okay? And can someone inform me of what happened after I was rudely knocked out?"

"Can't you take a second to relax Kukui? You just woke up!" Fuu was dragged back by Tenten before she could tackle me too. God bless Tenten. "Sorry...

"I'd love to relax but the last thing I remember is getting hit by a stone like it was a kunai. I'll relax when I know I can," I stretched my back out. "It's been two days. I kinda expected longer... I grinned. "But I guess I just got lucky," I chuckled to myself. I cheated death after reincarnation. Beautiful. Although from the looks on my friends faces they don't know why I was laughing.

"Hayate-sensei's out. He passed out after you did," Tenten said drawing my attention. "The Rubber Man also escaped. He's pretty injured though. But he hasn't been found by any Takigakure-shinobi yet," I groaned at that. "The good news is that Hayate-sensei should wake up soon as well and thanks to Lord Shibuki having his medical ninja heal you we're not going to have to listen to you complain until we get back to Konoha,"

I laughed. "I wouldn't complain, Tenten. I'd be silently planning stupid things to do instead," I sighed then, my smile leaving my face right away. "How badly was the Rubber Man injured?" Hopefully he wouldn't be coming back any time soon. And hopefully, he could be taken down... I wanted to know why he was here. I had an idea. He wasn't here for Hayate, that much was clear to me. So there was only one other reason he could be here.

"Not enough!" Mika exclaimed. "He evaded thirty Chuunin and Jonin whilst being close to death. They didn't do that much but still! He should have had his lung pierced, or at least grazed!" I don't know if I should be impressed or pissed.

"Yeah... Tenten rubbed her forehead and groaned. "It was incredible. But at the same time I don't feel safe knowing that there could be an S-rank ninja out there hunting us... Even if it's an incredibly injured one. We're all lucky to be alive after that fight. And being injured, we'd be lucky to survive a fight against him in the future,"

"Nah, we'd win," I grinned. "We may be injured and he may know our hand but we have a few secrets on our side," I began refilling my flame seals. I'd have to use my Genjutsu seals next time. Fuu could also hopefully tap into the Nanabi's chakra a bit more. I also had the crow summon from Shisui should things look extra sticky. "Wind is likely strong against him judging on how he went for you, Tenten. So we could use that to our advantage,"

"Are you saying we use Tenten as bait Kukui?" Mika asked, pointing at me accusingly.

"That's just stupid Kukui! Also, that'd be mean to do to Tenten. If she's a target, shouldn't we protect her?" Fuu also pointed at me. "I think you got hit in the head too hard,"

"No he's got a point," Tenten said. "I hate it but if I'm used as bait we could have a trap set up for him if he comes back. I think we should wait for Hayate-sensei before making any plans though," Tenten said with finality.

I nodded. "We should wait for him... I looked at Tenten. "Sorry for sorta bringing up using you as bait. I hate it a lot but it would probably be our best shot at killing the bastard should he return for us," I would rather myself be mortally wounded than Tenten. She was my first friend in this world. I wouldn't let her die.

"It's fine Kukui. If he was weak to fire I'd have used you as bait too," Tenten's smile turned into a shit eating grin. "You'd make for great bait. Although, I imagine if we both had wind release I'd be better at being bait than you. "

Mika and Fuu laughed.

'I have no idea how that's funny...' I still smiled. I then looked to the left and saw something I never saw before.

[Not... time... to... meet... yet...]

'Game are you high?' I shook my head and looked back at my friends who clearly were confused. "Sorry... I still feel a bit out of it,"

"That's fine, Kukui. You should rest for a bit more. You just woke up," Mika said, calmly.

What sort of world was I in?

I mentally laughed at my own joke before nodding. "Yeah... That'd be a good idea,"

I wish my friends could have stayed for longer but the visiting times in the hospital were over around three hours ago. Unfortunately, I was alone again, Hayate-sensei also hadn't woken up by now, and everything was aching because whatever pain killers were in my system before were now long gone. On the bright side I could be discharged tomorrow.

'At least the beds are comfy.' I sat up and took a deep breath. I had a lot to do. A lot. Mainly, trying to make other seals. The flame seal was good but it wouldn't cut it. I needed something I could use faster. I needed to be faster too. But how? I already had weights... I'd need to doubl down on them. But what about a faster attack?

I could try and learn lightning release for a lightning seal. But I wanted to focus on earth first since I wanted defense... But I needed that defense to be fast. I couldn't spend time slamming my hands onto the ground to form a wall... 'But why do I need to use my hands?' I looked at the end of the bed and to the side where my sandals were.

I didn't have to be limited by hand seals already. I shouldn't limit myself to just my hands when it comes to seals... I grinned. I needed to get started right away. I had a vague idea on how to manipulate earth chakra from the Earth clone jutsu. I needed to refine that idea.

I grabbed a seal I kept for situations like this and unsealed a leaf. I pressed my palms into it and took a deep breath. 'Earth chakra is more solid than the anarchy that comes with fire. But it also has that same power behind it. ' I was already experienced in molding Earth chakra. This shouldn't take anywhere near as long as Fire did. I hoped so at least.

I began channeling my chakra through the leaf, molding it like it was an earth clone but not really. The feeling of earth chakra was there and that was all I needed. I heard a ping and looked to the left and saw the screen I was expecting.

[New Skill Unlocked: Earth Manipulation lvl 1:

Earth manipulation lvl 1:

Increases control of Earth according to lvl

Earth jutsu use 0.5% less chakra

User is 0.5% more resistant to Earth

Earth jutsu are 0.5% more effective]

'And bingo... I wasn't hoping for it to be like fire manipulation but damn... I was hoping for at least 0.75% but this would do. As long as the results in the end were the same I could live with whatever happened. 'I imagine this would be harder for another element... that won't happen for a long time though.'

I began to focus more chakra into the leaf. I could do this to keep myself occupied whilst I thought of other things. 'I still wonder what that screen is...' I looked to the left and to the screen I never dismissed.

[Not... time... to... meet... yet...]

'Not time to meet who?' I wondered... Maybe it had something to do with the dream I had and the fire in it... I had no idea honestly. 'I can't let this stop me though, no matter how curious I am.' There was so much I didn't know about the system. So much I wanted to know. But I likely would never get to know much about it. It kind of sucked, but I had to focus on not dying and hopefully making sure that the literal Ninja Messiah didn't have to step in to give Naruto and Sasuke shiny new powers.

'That's years away though. And I'm nowhere near the Akatsuki's level.' I could maybe, maybe beat Hidan. He was a one trick pony in canon. I just needed to be faster than him and behead him. From there I could kick his head around like a soccer ball which would be hilarious.

Actually, wasn't he not in the Akatsuki at this point in canon?

...It didn't matter but it was cool to think about, if we were sent to Yugakure on a mission we could encounter Hidan potentially.

'Then again, encountering another S-rank any time soon is not on my bucket list.' I wanted to be a lot stronger before I even encountered Orochimaru. I'd have to be a lot stronger before I could take him down... 'I'll need to make some bullshit hack move so I can beat him.' I had sealless jutsu already and the Genjutsu seal, but they wouldn't be enough. I'd need something more grand. Something much more of a fuck you.

I looked to the side and saw my gloves that I had taken off earlier... I had taken inspiration from Anime for damn near all of my ideas. Maybe I could take inspiration from it once more for something else? Something that would give me the ability to contend with people like Orochimaru, Itachi, Obito, and Pain.

But what would give me such power?

I would need something big. Really big. It would have to be able to stop Obito from simply just using Izanagi, it would need to be a sure hit, and it would need to be something Pain couldn't absorb in time. 'I can think about it more later.' I felt some dust in my hands and saw that the leaf was partially dusted.

[Earth Manipulation Lvl 3:]

'Sweet...' I placed the leaf to the side and pocketed the dust. I unsealed a notebook and began going to a new page. 'I need more fire power. Literally. What kind of attack would be plausible though? Domain Expansion would be cool but I don't have my own domain to really expand somehow so that's probably out. Mana Zone is a maybe?' I grabbed a pencil. 'I need to think outside the box.'

I wanted to make an attack larger than life itself.

I couldn't resort to anything pathetic. I needed to think of something big. Really big... ' Actually... No. It didn't need to be big. It just needed to be powerful... very powerful.

With a grin, I began writing down an idea.

[Hayate Gekko]

'That was a shitshow.' Hayate sat up and looked around. 'Shinobi hospital...likely still in Takigakure.' With a groan, Hayate looked around and looked outside of a window. 'Yep. In Takigakure.' Hayate groaned as he looked to the left and saw one of his students, or rather, their earth clone.

"We're training if you're wondering. I'm just here to tell you everything we know so far," The Kukui clone said in a bored tone. "I've been here for seventeen hours if you're wondering. I'm bored as shit," Hayate could swear the clone was grinning.

"Okay... did the Rubber Man escape?" Hayate asked the clone instantly. 'That bastard better not have...' Hayate had hope considering how well his students and their friend did against the man. But the Rubber Man was always a crafty son of a bitch.

He was even able to evade the Fourth Hokage.

The Kukui clone nodded. "I don't know how exactly it happened but he did evade everyone. I don't have any new information since the real me got discharged yesterday so I don't know if the prick's been captured,"

"Please tell me you're all somewhere safe," Hayate's mind ran a mile a minute... The Rubber Man wasn't there for him. So he had to be there for one of them. He wouldn't just try to kill them for no reason. "He will try to come back and go after you if he's healed,"

"He's probably half dead somewhere Hayate-sensei," The Kukui clone deadpanned. "The Rubber Man was stabbed in the back with a Wind enhanced Kunai. He could actually be dead somewhere... I am prepared for the possibility he comes back though,"

"Tell me how," Hayate ordered. "Unless you have magic I doubt you'd have anything to handle the Rubber Man Kukui. Especially since you didn't use it the last time,"

"Secret," Kukui replied. "Literally only four people know about it... Or actually is it three? I'm not really sure. But it involves Mika. I can't directly tell you but I'm sure you can piece it together," The Kukui clone looked at Hayate and Hayate saw no smile or joy in his eyes. He was serious.

'What secret could involve Mika?' Hayate saw Kukui gesture outside as a crow flew by. Hayate could only think of two people who were involved with crows. One of which was Itachi Uchiha and the other... "Shisui,"

Kukui nodded. "A crow with a very special eye. There's a lot you can do with seals as it turns out," Hayate put it together... Shisui was probably dead but he had an eye inside of a crow that would somehow lsiten to Kukui. But how could that be plausible...

'Or, Shisui could be alive and gave a crow to Kukui... He did always talk about Mika and it was obvious how he'd want her to have teammates and a Sensei that'd protect her if something happened to him. ' Giving Kukui a crow instead of Mika was a bit odd though.

But, if Shisui was somehow alive then Hayate would respect his wishes.

"I see..." Hayate decided to leave the subject alone. A crow with a Sharingan probably would be programmed to use a genjutsu or something... "Anyways, what are you working on?"

The Kukui Clone shrugged. "Dunno what we're exactly doing to be honest. I'm either working on earth manipulation or making a jutsu," There was the cockiness Hayate expected. Hayate felt tempted to fling something into the clone's face... The Kukui clone threw Hayate his Kunai holster. "It's true if you're wondering. I already made progress in Earth Manipulation... I'm probably working on that first actually,"

"Why are you working on earth manipulation when you haven't even mastered Fire Manipulation?" Hayate blankly asked the clone as he sat up and looked around for the rest of his stuff. "Don't tell me you're trying to make the Earth Seal now," Hayate didn't want to deal with an overpowered Genin... but then he could brag about having the strongest genin team and win the bet he had with Kakashi...

"I am," Kukui said before standing up. "But it won't be ready for a while. It can be anywhere from a week to a month to somewhere beyond that. But it'll be done in less than a year," The Kukui clone smiled. "Just think about it Hayate-Sensei! I can freely move the earth through my feet and unleash torrents of fire through my hands. I'll be as strong as a Jonin!"

Hayate chuckled. "Flashy jutsu don't make a Jonin strong Kukui. I'm sure you know that though," Hayate grabbed his sword, Holding it by it's sheath and placing it on his lap. " What about that jutsu you want to make? Tell me about that?" Kukui smiled like it was Christmas.

"Well it begins with-"

And so it ends. Well this chapter. It took me like three days to do so. But I did it! A lot happened this chapter. Mainly stuff involving Kukui. Which... I kinda hate since as much as I love him as the MC, I don't want everything to be about him. Anyways, Kukui dreams something that totally won't come up later, he makes plans for final- a jutsu, He begins efforts on the Earth seal which effectively sends him into the OP but not too OP category of genin, and the hint toward the mission that (likely) won't happen.

For those who've read NS(which is extremely unlikely but I like to cover my bases) Yugakure likely won't happen. Yes, I know it was a huge mission in NS. Mainly due to Kukui losing an eye and Mika awakening her Sharingan there but it won't happen here. Or at least, it won't happen in the way it did. Instead, there will be a different mission. Probably... I do know who I want to include and I do have some ideas.

Anyways, see Y'all next week!

-Tobi