A/N: Hello again ladies and gentlemen and here we are with another chapter. With the truth of the Uchiha massacre discussed in Naruto's mindscape, we continue with the battle that the Konoha-nins have to continue. How would that turn out...read to find out. Before getting to the chapter, I would like to thank you all for your continued strong love and support.
CHAPTER 21: THE SEARCH FOR TSUNADE CONTINUES
With the long mental conversation in Naruto's mindscape and all the jaw dropping revelations accompanying it over, Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi and Itachi found themselves back in the real world, where merely a moment had passed.
Kakashi's kick connected with Itachi's face and made him release Naruto out of his grip as he skidded down a few feet. The former ANBU captains only gave each other a slight node, having no other way than to continue pretending to fight until the Uchiha could be pushed back enough to make a case for escaping. The two leapt at each other, both Sharingan blazing.
Just then the other Akatsuki member made his presence known.
Kisame jumped into the spot where Kakashi, Naruto and Hinata were engaging Itachi.
"You damned annoying brat! I would have given you a painful death had we not been ordered to bring you in alive. But I will definitely cut all your limbs off since the leader never specified about which state you should be in when we capture you." The shark faced man shouted in frustration, his cloak was torn off, and he had several burn marks and scratches due the explosion and the accompanying flying shrapnel. Naruto and Hinata understood that Kisame was the one who had burst through the door and had triggered all the explosive notes they had attached with it
"You should have just used your brain a bit more before barging in like a bull, Shark face!" Naruto taunted.
'That's Kisame, Dad warned me not to engage him in anyway, what to do now. Kakashi-sensei can't just disengage Itachi and take on him. Hinata-chan and I am in trouble. He said he can't kill me but Hinata-chan… Oh No! Gotta think something quick!' The blonde jinchuuriki mentally thought in worry.
Just then a swarm of bugs appeared and completely surrounded the tailless tailed beast.
"Forgive our delay in coming to your aid. My bugs sensed the chakra of this one to be very high, it is very likely that my hive won't be enough to completely drain him so be very careful." Shino cautioned as he and Kiba arrived on the battlefield.
Hinata observed the Shark-faced man with her Byakugan.
"Naruto-kun, although his sword is replenishing his chakra, Shino-kun's bugs are draining him faster, we might have a chance here." She suggested.
"Yeah, I guess we do, but Shino may not be able to keep this up for long so we hit him with our best taijutsu at once and try to knock the sword out of his grip. Ready Hime?"
"Hai!"
"Shino! Can you keep it up for a few more seconds?"
"I believe I can, Naruto-san."
Naruto then focused on his chakra network and brought his arms into an 'X' formation as his mind focused itself on recalling Gai's lessons.
'Gai sensei demonstrated it to me once and only taught the basics, I hope I get this right Gai-sensei…it would really help me out'
"First Gate! Second Gate! Third Gate! Open!" Naruto shouted to himself and then he began going a step further. This time, the pain became unbearable but he had no other way, the life of the one he loved more than himself and his comrades, all depended upon him delivering a good enough blow to Kisame.
"FOURTH GATE OPEN!" The chakra flow increased in his body to levels he had never experienced within the first three gates, but the stress on his bones and muscles was also quite heavy, but Naruto steeled his body to endure all of it. And then he rushed at Kisame, careful not to use any chakra from Kurama to give the swordsman any source of consuming chakra. And then he delivered a series of kicks on Kisame's chest pushing him upwards as Shino's bugs rushed to keep up with him. (Right now, Naruto isn't wearing any weights since he discarded them before he and Hinata escaped their hotel room after booby-trapping it with explosives.)
'So far this is working, and I can use the supply of Ninja wire I have instead of Bushy-brow's bandages'
And he did just that, wrapping Kisame up with the ninja-wire he had stored under his sleeves. Then taking the large man with him, Naruto spiraled downwards.
From his fight with Itachi, Kakashi caught a glimpse of what his blonde student was doing.
'Amazing Gai, to think that you would teach the Front Lotus to Naruto.'
"FRONT LOT-!" Before Naruto could finish the job, Kisame managed to elbow the blonde away and angled his body enough to reduce the effects of his high-speed spiraling impact on the ground. Although Kisame managed to stop Naruto's first usage of front lotus just short of being completely executed, that didn't mean he came out of it without any effects.
By this time, Kisame was disorientated having lost quite a bit of his chakra to Shino's bugs, then Naruto's sudden usage of front lotus made his head spin. But the Shark-like ninja soon managed to get up, a bit shaky but he quickly got to his feet.
"Hinata-chan now!" Naruto screamed to his girlfriend, who immediately complied.
"Eight Trigrams: 32 palms!" She closed a number of tenketsu on Kisame's body but the Akatsuki member recovered just at the time when she was about to deliver her 25th strike, caught her by her wrist and threw her away, but Naruto, with his speed still amplified by 4 gates, caught her before she could slam into a tree and get knocked out.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah!"
"He managed to stop the front lotus from being completed and then stopped you from delivering the 32 strikes. We need to be faster." The blonde cautioned, then he noticed Kiba.
"Kiba assist Kakashi-sensei!"
"Gotcha!"
The Inuzuka heir tossed a red pill to his ninken partner Akamaru who ate it and then:
"Fang over Fang!" Kiba unleashed his best move upon Itachi, just as he deflected a kunai strike from Kakashi. The attack connected and sent the Uchiha flying towards Kisame, pushing the two of them back by quite a few feet. But Kakashi couldn't save himself from quite a few scratches.
Itachi coughed up blood.
"He has some damage in his lungs and Kiba-kun's attack as made his breathing a bit uneasy." Hinata whispered to her boyfriend as she observed the Uchiha with her Byakugan.
"Then hopefully that will be enough for him to convince Kisame to fall back. Because if Kisame decides to keep on fighting, we are screwed." Naruto whispered back, earning a nod from his girlfriend.
"These brats are proving to be a handful aren't they Itachi. We should really just kill them all and take the jinchuuriki away." Kisame commented with a grin.
The Uchiha shook his head: "I tried putting them all into the Tsukuyomi but didn't take into account the fact that Kakashi's Sharingan is a Mangekyou, he managed to dispel my Tsukuyomi and it cost me a lot of chakra, especially since I have used it on 3 people already just 3 days ago and we didn't get much rest to replenish my chakra reserves. As for you, with the Aburame's bugs draining you continuously, you will be at a disadvantage and they can actually begin pushing you back if any of them manages to knock the Samehada out of your hands. Not to mention, I can sense several of Konoha's ANBU approaching us, it seems that the Hokage somehow managed to anticipate that we might try targeting the jinchuuriki outside the village and dispatched back-up. For now, it is better to fall back, we have to try again some other time." Itachi commented with his monotone voice as he tried suppressing his coughs.
Kisame groaned in frustration: "It seems that the dog-boy's attack hit you at a weak spot. Why don't you look for some better treatment Itachi? The medicines you have started to take are not enough to heal you fully." Itachi didn't give any reply to the comment. "Fine, we will fall back for now." The swordsman said in a frustrated voice. Soon the two vanished via a shunshin.
Now, the Tsunade retrieval squad could finally catch a breath.
"Did you see my attack? It totally threw the Uchiha out of the fight." Kiba exclaimed in excitement.
"Kiba, while your attack was quite useful, don't think for a moment that you can match with Itachi Uchiha in battle, at least not with the level you are at right now, so don't let that success get you ahead of yourself." Kakashi cautioned, calming the Inuzuka down in a bit of embarrassment. An embarrassment that turned to frustrated rage after he thought about his supposed victory, too easy considering his opponent and his gut told him it was luck and coincidence.
"And Shino, your quick thinking really came in handy today against Kisame, we discovered that he is vulnerable to the Aburame clan's bugs." The Aburame nodded. "However, the warning to net let this success get to your head stands for you, Naruto and Hinata as well." The Copy ninja added. The three nodded. At least Naruto and Hinata had already faced quite a few powerful shinobi already and they along with Shino had a cool head over their shoulders as well.
"Considering this huge fight, it seems we need to rest ourselves a bit before moving forward and we might have to pay for the damage caused to the hotel as well." Kakashi said looking at the lovebirds who looked down.
The hotel owner shouted a lot at the Shinobi for irresponsibly using their power in his hotel, destroying a room completely with explosives. Kakashi had to apologize several times before the fuming inn owner calmed down and demanded that they pay for all the damages they had caused. Luckily with the payments they had received from their A-rank missions during the invasion, Naruto and Hinata had enough to cover for the repair costs.
During the daytime, Naruto went over to the local market and bought all the supplies needed to start his lovely girlfriend's Rasengan training.
*That afternoon*
Naruto and Hinata were well rested now, ready to continue. However, Kakashi had determined that it might be risky to travel at night in case the Akatsuki tried attacking them again, so they had decided to start moving the next morning.
The blonde then filled a water balloon and passed it to his girlfriend.
"Hime, what do you think about learning the Rasengan?" He asked showing the spiraling sphere on his palm. Hinata's eyes widened, it was the same attack that decimated her clan's heavenly rotation and took Neji down. She then remembered Minato giving her explicit permission to learn any jutsu of his arsenal. It was a great honour, and to share Naruto-kun's special jutsu, how could she say no to that.
"Yes! I would love to learn it Naruto-kun, I'll do my best." She replied with a smile and a determined look in her eyes.
"I expect nothing less from you my Hime. Now the training consists of three steps." Naruto then took a water balloon in his hand and demonstrated the first step. "In the first step, you have to rotate the water inside the balloon and burst it using your chakra."
"Give me a minute, Naruto-kun." Hinata said activating her Byakugan. She then observed how Naruto rotated chakra inside the balloon.
"I understand now."
"Son, tell her not to use her eyes while doing the Rasengan training, that way she won't be reliant on her eyes all the time." Minato suggested from his son's mindscape.
"Okay Dad, if you say so."
"Umm…Hinata-chan, Dad is suggesting not using the Byakugan while doing the Rasengan training, something about not being over-reliant on your eyes." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head.
'That makes sense, we Hyuuga always rely upon our eyes for almost everything. I need to have something that doesn't rely on them as well.'
"I understand Naruto-kun. Give tou-san my thanks." She said taking a water balloon in her hands.
*The next day*
The Tsunade retrieval squad had hit the road again.
Kakashi saw the Hyuuga of their team trying to burst a water balloon.
"It seems difficult Naruto-kun." She commented.
"Yeah, it is. But I can bet that you'll get it down faster than I did, trust me." Her blonde lover replied making her nod.
"Is it what I think it is Naruto?" Kakashi asked his student.
"Yeah sensei, exactly, you said that she can be a great ninjutsu specialist as well." Naruto replied with a goofy grin and his hands behind his head.
"Are you teaching her some cool jutsu Naruto?" Kiba asked.
"You bet."
"Which one?"
"That's a surprise. You'll see when she uses it." Naruto replied with a smirk.
Meanwhile, Kakashi thought back to the conversation he had with Minato and Kushina in Naruto's mindscape.
'At least Sensei is around and is watching us through Naruto's eyes. Even if he's not here in flesh and blood, this is better than anything I could have asked for. Does it mean he was the one who taught Naruto the Rasengan? If yes then how did Naruto lie under the Byakugan's gaze' Then Kakashi's eyes fell on the Hyuuga who was trying to burst a water balloon. 'Of course, she taught him how to do it, she knows details and weaknesses of the Byakugan that anyone outside the clan would only know if they had stolen a Byakugan. I wonder how Jiraiya-sama would take the news of Minato-sensei and Kushina-sama living inside Naruto's head…'
The team continued their journey towards Tanzaku.
*Meanwhile in Konoha*
Sasuke was lying unconscious; he was only still breathing regularly with the help of the oxygen mask over his face. The doctor on duty had checked on him an hour ago, having taken notes of his present state. Nobody had an idea when the Uchiha would regain consciousness.
A certain pink haired girl had been visiting the hospital regularly ever since the Uchiha was admitted in it. She had also heard the news of his suspension. She had no idea how to deliver that message to her crush whenever he finally woke up.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was having the same dream Itachi had shown him in the Tsukuyomi. He was watching the massacre again and again. Suddenly his body started shaking violently, his pulse became erratic as dark markings began spreading over his body.
Then the shape of his body began changing, while the beeps of the machines connected to him began raising alarms.
Then Sasuke suddenly got up with a scream.
"IIIITTTTAAACCCCHIIIIIIIII!" Sakura got alarmed when she heard that scream and saw doctors and nurses rushing towards the same room Sasuke was in. Then she heard a nurse scream in horror. She rushed behind them and saw the doctors and nurses looking towards the patient in the room in abject terror, then she heard someone say.
"W-W-What is that?"
Sakura pushed the crowd aside, and moved forward. What she saw stunned her as well. Gone was the cool and handsome boy she loved. In his place, there was a person… or a thing…who looked nothing like Sasuke, with a huge hand like wing growing out of the side he had been bitten on. Dark marks had spread all over his body from the spot where he was bitten in the Forest of Death. Sasuke's skin colour had darkened from its normal pale hue to a charcoal hue. The only thing that resembled Sasuke were the glowing red Sharingan eyes, which made Sakura understand that this was indeed Sasuke, just before a red glow washed over the copy wheels and turned the red of the boy's Sharigan to gold.
For several seconds, the pink haired genin remained frozen in her place as she saw two doctors trying to control Sasuke, it was obvious that they would be overpowered soon. Finally, Sakura got some of her wits back.
"S-S-Sasuke-k-kun" She stuttered, making the transformed Sasuke glare at her. As he threw one of the doctors back.
"SASUKE-KUN CALM DOWN!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs this time. Somehow, she got through to Sasuke and the transformed Uchiha stopped for a moment to look at her, which was enough for one of the doctors there to get behind him and slam a sedative injection into his neck. In seconds, Sasuke fell down.
"…Sakura…" The pink haired kunoichi heard Sasuke whisper just before he lost consciousness and the transformation receded back into the curse mark.
She rushed to him.
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun!" She tried rubbing his back to comfort him as tears fell from her eyes. Then she felt a hand touch her shoulder, she looked up to see the same doctor that had injected the sedative into Sasuke.
"Miss, you may not know it but you have saved our lives today. It seems he lost control somehow but you seem to have some sort of effect on him. Anyways you have mine and my team's sincere gratitude. Thank you very much." The doctor said earning a nod from Sakura.
"Send word to the Hokage and request for some shinobi to keep watch on the patient." The doctor ordered one of the nurses who walked away for carry out the order.
Soon Jiraiya reached the hospital and attentively listened to the report of the hospital staff. Then he saw the pink haired kunoichi sitting there at the visitors' section with her hands on her thighs, she appeared to be going through a mental crisis.
'Poor girl, she hasn't seen just how dark the Shinobi world can become, even though she went to the Wave with Team-7. Anyways, the doctors said that she was able to calm Sasuke down, that's good. Perhaps she can be of assistance when we start psychotherapy sessions for him.' Thinking that Jiraiya approached the Kunoichi.
"I heard the doctor's report of today's incident. You acted admirably." The toad sage said with a kind smile. Sakura looked up at him, it was clear that she had sobbed for some time.
"J-Jiraiya-sama!"
"Yes, that's me. You seem troubled and given the situation you just noticed, it's quite natural for you to be so. Tell me about it, that'll help."
Sakura looked at the man for a few more moments, he looked sincere.
"I-I have never seen Sasuke-kun act like this. He seemed nothing like the Sasuke-kun I know, he was angry, h-he had the same aura that Zabuza had when we first came across him during the wave mission." The pink haired genin explained.
"The curse mark he has received from Orochimaru deeply affects a person's sanity kid, and on top of that he saw and fought the same man that had killed his entire clan, so it's natural that he is angry, and that anger is fueling this curse mark transformation." Jiraiya explained.
"Will he be…okay?" Sakura croaked out through a dry throat
"Well, we always have to hope for the best, don't we? I have some understanding of the curse mark and for the time being, I have redone the restraining seal Kakashi placed on him. Unfortunately, the curse mark has latched itself to his chakra network very closely so it won't be easy to remove. But I am working on a way to remove it without damaging his chakra network. But, if we do it right now, the chakra network might get damaged, effectively preventing him from molding jutsu. However, your teammate and sensei have gone to bring back Tsunade, the best medic in the world back to Konoha. Together, we will figure out a way to heal him completely. Till then, Sasuke himself has to resist the temptation of the curse mark. He will need all the help he can get. Fortunately, you seem to have some effect on him so I am sure you will be able to help him. Be strong, okay?" Jiraiya explained sincerely, patting the girl's shoulder.
Sakura understood.
"I'll do my best Jiraiya-sama." She replied trying her best to appear strong. Jiraiya understood that this girl might not be as mature or as strong as Hinata but still she was good, at least she didn't run away in fear, with time she could become stronger.
"I am sure you will. And come to me if you need anything, you can find me at the Hokage's office." Jiraiya replied before leaving to attend to the horrifying paperwork waiting for him at the office.
*Back with the Tsunade retrieval squad
Hinata was trying her best to burst the water balloon, using chakra. After several hours of trying, the Hyuuga had the feeling that she was now doing it right and then the balloon burst!
"YES!" Both Naruto and Hinata shouted at the same time. Kakashi looked back and gave an eye-smile.
"I got it Naruto-kun! I did it!" Hinata said with absolute happiness.
"That was awesome, I told you. And I told you that you'd get it down faster than I did!" Naruto cheered.
"But you said you did within 7 hours, I took 10." Hinata replied.
"Naah! I used several shadow clones for the training, so if I combine their labour, it took me a lot more than 7 hours, you on the other hand did it in 10 all by yourself. You are really awesome." Naruto said with a huge grin and a thumbs-up.
"Thanks Naruto-kun." Hinata replied with a blush of her own.
Then Naruto got an idea.
"Sensei! Do you think Hinata can perform shadow clones?" the blonde asked. Kakashi proceeded to view Hinata's chakra levels with his Sharingan and then thought for a minute.
"For some reason, her chakra reserves are now a considerably more than that of a normal genin of her age. Perhaps she will be able to make 3 clones with ease." The masked jonin commented.
"That means she can cut her training time by three times." Naruto added. "All right Hime, what do you think about learning the shadow clones?" he asked with a smile. Hinata nodded, she was ready to take in whatever her boyfriend saw fit to teach her.
"All right, it's really easy to be precise, watch me closely." Hinata activated her Byakugan and observed Naruto's chakra flow as he demonstrated her the Shadow Clone jutsu, his signature move. Naruto was right, the jutsu was quite easy. Committing the chakra flow to her memory, Hinata brought her hands into the cross seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" She exclaimed pumping in as much chakra as she could, five copies of her appeared, making Naruto and Kakashi raise their eye-brows. Then Hinata felt dizzy and all her clones vanished, Naruto caught her before she could hit the ground.
"I think she put too much chakra into it." Kakashi commented as Naruto rubbed Hinata's back, making her slowly regain consciousness.
After Hinata was feeling a bit better, Kakashi walked over to her. "Next time, limit yourself to three clones, don't put too much chakra into it or you will lose consciousness just like you did right now, be careful okay." The Copy Ninja advised, earning a nod from the Hyuuga.
As the team continued, Naruto was thinking of what different jutsu he could start learning. He had learnt from Matatabi that now his fire affinity was as strong as his wind. Now he could start learning fire jutsu. Also, he wanted to start learning more wind jutsu as well. Then he suddenly remembered the 'Water Prison' technique Zabuza had used on Kakashi. One needed to have a water body close by to perform that technique but wind…wind was everywhere. What if you tried to do the same thing with wind chakra?
"Hey Kakashi-sensei! Can you show me the Water Prison jutsu Zabuza used on you during the Wave mission?" the blonde asked.
"Well, I sure can, but I don't think you have developed a good enough water affinity to begin using that jutsu." Kakashi replied.
"No, that's not what I want. I want to do a Wind style version of it. Do you think it is possible?" Naruto asked again.
Now Kakashi himself was curious. What his student was implying was not impossible. Dragon bullet jutsu of water, fire and earth styles existed. Then there was the Wind Style: Great Breakthrough & Fire Style: Fire Ball jutsu. Both worked on the same principle, only with different elements. So why not?
"I don't see why that can't be done. I think that's a good idea to experiment upon." Kakashi commented. Then locating a nearby pond, Kakashi took his blonde student with him and demonstrated the Water Prison jutsu to him. Naruto committed everything to his memory. He even had Hinata observe it with her Byakugan to note the chakra flow.
"Wow, our son is working on inventing jutsu now! That's truly amazing." Minato commented from the mindscape.
"Yes Honey. It seems, the time-travel that the Biju did have its merits. Naru-chan is starting to show his intelligence already, something he demonstrated a lot later in the previous timeline. I am really proud of him." Kushina added with a proud smile.
For the next three days, the squad kept making their way towards Tanzaku town, while Naruto and Hinata kept up with their respective training, Hinata kept trying to burst the rubber ball, while being assisted by three shadow clones. As for Naruto, he kept trying to form the 'Wind Style: Wind Prison'. His problem was that while he could create a dome of wind chakra, he couldn't keep it up for more than 2 minutes, and even with that, when he tried to use that jutsu on Kakashi, the copy ninja broke out of it within less than a minute. 'Perhaps I have to put in more chakra. Also, my chakra control still needs some improvement.'
"Son, why don't you try practicing the leaf cutting exercise with rocks?" Minato suggested from the mindscape.
"That could work, thanks Dad! As always, you are really a genius." Naruto said with a grin.
'You may be a bigger genius than I am kiddo. Just a bit ditsy, that's all.' Minato thought to himself as his son's vestige vanished from the mindscape and he held a stone in his hands and began trying to cut it into two with wind chakra alone.
As it all went just before sunset of the third day of their departure from the town where they had crossed paths with the Akatsuki, the Tsunade retrieval squad finally reached the outskirts of a town.
"That's Tanzaku-Gai." Kakashi commented.
"Finally." Naruto said. Then the team made their way towards the center of the town.
Today was going to be a long one.
*Concurrently with Tsunade Search Squad arriving in Tanzaku
Land of Sea
Demon Island*
The lab hidden amongst the many islands that were part of the Land of Sea served as a hideout for a nefarious mind.
Dr. Amachi was a researcher in league with Orochimaru. At least in name if not in truth at the moment.
He was officially part of the Oto organization, but the funding for his projects had been cut! Orochimaru wasn't interested in such research as adapting Ninja to fight completely amphibiously!
Amachi couldn't see the logic. Fully amphibious ninja would allow for control of shipping routes on a scale that the greedy and miserly midget Gato could have only dreamed of.
Entire nations could be bent to the will of the master of these amphibious shinobi. Just one, in the form of a girl named Isaribi, had been able to choke in coming shipments passing through Sea's waters. Gathering funds and test subjects.
Orochimaru was more interested in his body changing and curse mark and bloodline implanting. Paltry gimmicks and cheap talent. Nothing that could truly stand the test of time. Nothing that would change how war would be waged and how ninja would fight.
Though the scientific part of Amachi wondered which bloodline Orochimaru had implanted into that pet ninja of his, the girl who was the same age as Amachi's Isaribi. Orochimaru did state that it was locked behind her mark elevating to Level 2.
Amachi snorted as he remembered the other thing Orochimaru mentioned about his design for the Curse Mark, it possessed a bit of his chakra that would break the bearer's mind and render them little more than literal vessels for his will, like the legendary Six Paths of Pain of the Rinnegan.
'What superstitious nonsense… Orochimaru may be brilliant but he heeds old myths and legends in his search for knowledge, things that have no place in proper science.'
Though Amachi had begun to worry that his project was cursed. Over a decade devoted to its advancement and only Isaribi had managed to properly adapt to her modifications and survive.
And the brat was merely a damn prototype. Anything else crapped out and died.
At least with the old process. Amachi had to use mutagenic compounds to induce the genetic fusion and evolution of the Kaima form.
Out of all the test subjects processed this way, a handful survived but only Isaribi had survived any reasonable amount of time.
A civilian girl survived what trained shinobi could not.
It was baffling. Even more so than her slowed aging, the brat barely aged even a year over the course of 14 years while Orochimaru's brat aged normally.
'Was it something in the process used on Isaribi? Some kind of dormant or newly developed trait or mutation? Something that could be the start of a new Bloodline? Or some combination of the above or none of it at all?' Amachi questioned but found no answers.
The only way to know for sure would be a deep analysis of all tissues and cells in the girl. And the only way to do that was to dissect her.
Amachi couldn't afford to do that. Even with new strokes of luck, Isaribi was far more valuable alive.
The girl originally had no training in chakra arts of any kind, but her mutations had been promoting growth and development of her Chakra Network for years now.
If she had been a ninja or Amachi could be bothered to teach her the Shinobi Arts, she could have been one of the most powerful ninja of the current generation, possibly on par with Kakashi Hatake.
Her mutations had caused her to develop a very bastardized Water Release that she used during combat, it was instinctive and lacked any form of real skill at play.
It was like comparing a Poison Toad's poison covered skin to a Toad of Myoboku that had learned to weaponize the poison to be congealed together into blobs that could be lobbed at opponents.
Amachi sighed as he worked. It would be easier to have Isaribi be at the Demon Island full time but it worked better to keep her in line if she was at the mainland. The brats she had taken to teaching wouldn't matter. Isaribi wanted to be human again no matter what and Amachi had to let her operate like an employee to sell her on him being sincere on offering to undo his modifications of her body.
The mad scientist stared at the test subject his newest benefactor had provided, a thing that was little more than a corpse still keeping warm.
Amachi would be first admit he was tense over the possibilities of success versus failure, previous experience taught him it was more weighted to failure.
The test had been going for hours…
…and the benefactor demanded results soon. The deadline was soon.
Amachi had almost fainted from tension when he began to see it.
Scales and gills developing on the test subject and no major signs of damage being cause.
"It worked, it finally worked. YES! AFTER ALL THIS TIME I'VE FINALLY DONE IT!" Amachi declared madly.
"Excellent work, Amachi." A voice called out.
Amachi spun around and saw the cloaked form of his benefactor with that strange doll like creature he carried around sitting on his shoulder.
"Yes. I know! And it's all thanks to you! Finally, a force capable of truly controlling the seas is at hand! My dream is so close to reality! Tell me how it was made possible?" Amachi waxed on madly.
The mysterious benefactor adjusted his hood and the doll on his shoulder opened its eye, revealing to Amachi a familiar red glow.
"Sharingan…an Uchiha?" Amachi spoke almost in disbelief.
"Not quite." The man stated before he lowered his hood to reveal a deathly pale skin and a bald head, but most disturbingly Sharingan implanted on top of his head forming a 360-degree sight range and a right eye socket that was permanently stitched open with 8 stitches with a blackened sclera. "But at the same time, I consider them to be my adopted clan. My unique genetic make-up allows full integration of any transplant, both ways, and the material integrates into my DNA quite…thoroughly."
Amachi gasped: "You used parts of your DNA to perfect my process?"
The stranger shook his head: "If it were that simple it would be easy. The truth is the process of creating Kaima is highly taxing and carries an incredible risk of rejection, so much that apparently even bits of my DNA being used to catalyze the mutative process doesn't guarantee success."
Amachi had a nostalgic smile: "I feel like I'm speaking to Orochimaru or one of his scientific students."
The stranger smiled and revealed his missing teeth: "I was a student of Orochimaru. The man is more or less my father, by both raising me up and by showing me the world and how to dissect it to learn more about it. I sought out my brother by such."
Amachi was very interested: "I hope I live up to expectations, but where do we go from here?"
The benefactor lost his grin: "You do, and we continue to work. Your pet, Isaribi. I'm researching artificial aging and age halting as well as reversal. I believe she may be of great use to such research. While I conduct my research and experiments on her, you continue to refine the Kaima procedure, and then, when we are ready, we will plunge this world into an era of warfare that will make all the Great Ninja Wars and the entirety of the Warring States seem like mere practice for this."
Amachi snorted with giggles of glee: "Sounds like quite the opportunity. I am Amachi but you already knew that."
The benefactor nodded: "I… am Uchiha Shin."
Amachi walked up to shake the man's hand, unaware of the marking seal he was tagged with by the gesture. "A pleasure to meet you, Shin-Dono."
Shin smiled and reciprocated: "Trust me, Amachi-Dono, the pleasure is all mine."
A dark partnership had been struck in Sea.
And soon…
…The Demon Island would live up to its name.
A/N: And done! Put a hook to the Sea arc, which will follow. (Not after this arc but soon enough.) and also made Shin active since he is more useful in Naruto than in the Boruto-era anyways and if it were up to me, I would have had all the Boruto-era villains dealt with in the Naruto-era itself. There is enough time to do that before Boruto is born. But that's my personal opinion, I mean no disrespect to anyone, especially Kishimoto and his team. e are here because of him. I agree that Kishimoto's story might have had it's own faults, but without a doubt, his story is and will always be the closest one to my heart. Anyways, enough with that...I hope you all had a good read. See ya all in the next chapter and I sincerely hope that this little story will continue to receive your love and support in the coming days.
RaNK001 out.