Chapter 70 - 5

I noted those down and kept thinking. Learning black smithing would be necessary. I could think of many weapons that would be devastating. Lightning chakra could be used to pierce just about anything. What about a spear that could be thrown and recalled. Some seals along the tip could concentrate the lightning. In cannon the third Raikage wounded a tailed beast with something like that. Hmmm… what if I made it like Kratos' spear? If I could learn how shadow clones work, I could use it to duplicate the spear. Even make it explode like Itachi did with his clone. Didn't the Third Hokage use a shadow shuriken clone variant? That could work. Keep the original spear in a ring and have seals work to duplicate it infinitely. I could throw them around like Zeus and his lightning bolts.

Speaking of weapons, Naruto already a large variety of special weapons, I would need to learn how those were made if I could. Samehada and that lightning sword were especially interesting. Utility options would be great too. What if I made something to help me fly? An item that contained wings that could help me fly with wind chakra. Maybe I could make cloth transform into wings. If I added several wings to it I could eve make myself look angelic, the eldritch kind of angelic at that. Gloves or gauntlets to increase strength or striking power. If they released chakra in bursts at the right time maybe they could smash boulders? That would give me a weak replica of Tsunade's attacks. What could I do with amour? If I placed seals all along the body, could I make a boot-leg lightning armor? I finally had to stop myself and focus on other topics. It was exciting, but this would take time, money, and tinkering.

I also really needed to start studying the medical arts. Medicine would always be a useful skill to use, and there was a possibility poison could be a big weakness of mine. I did not know how my thread hearts would interact with my body so it was possible poison would be able to outright kill me. The show, unfortunately for me, was more about cool fight scenes then the actual inner workings of the techniques. I knew that the original Kakuzu had blood still in his body, which indicated something more at work there, but his body also disconnected like a doll. How was blood transferred? Isu only ever used his threads for direct conflict, so was a rather limited source of information. I also might have been avoiding questions about it. I wasn't overly eager about what was going to happen to me after all. I would have correct this issue, because there were things I needed to know. For instance, what if my head was destroyed? Could I survive that if I still had a heart? Could I use the eight gates even with such a modified body? Questions, questions, questions.

The last thing that came to my mind for personal power was natural energy. I needed to find a way to harness it. I was actually astonished that it wasn't used more often in the show. It was such a potent powerup that it seemed that anyone with access would stop at nothing to learn it. Were there some other requirements not known? Who even had access to it? The toads definitely had it, and I believe the snakes and slugs did too. Did all summons have access to it? I doubted it, but it was something to investigate.

Speaking of summons I needed some of those. They were stalwart allies if you had the right ones. They could definitely shore up some weak points as they were essentially their own little village of Shinobi. But where could I find one? I knew at some point that the chameleon's contract would be in a castle, but I think that was forty years from now. What did they get out of these contracts anyway? It seemed they got nothing but the chance to be killed in battle. There must be something I don't know. Also, could you hold more than one contract? Could regular animals be elevated somehow to become as smart as humans? The Inuzuka and the Aburame would probably have the best answers for that.

Which brought me to my other problem. Should I manipulate the formations of the great villages in anyway? Hashirama giving the out the Buji like candy only created problems and wars for the world. Madara also needed to be guided away from his path or be put down permanently. I didn't think I could beat either of them if it came to a fight. I might never have that power to be honest. Additionally, me interfering could stop the formation of the great villages, even by accident. I am going to guess that there were several points where that whole process could go wrong.

I thought about that for a while. I could gain vast resources and help, but I would also be drawn into all their conflicts. Maybe it would be worth it. Everything was so violent right now and I knew that was only going to get worse in the next decade or two. Of course the formation of the villages eventually led to three separate wars. I think it was ultimately worth it, change wouldn't come quickly or easily to such a war like people after all, but countless people were going to die no matter what I did. Best to try and make sure there was something resembling peace at the end of it all. The Five were the best bet for a lasting change in the long run.

I struggled with those thoughts for a while, before deciding that I didn't want to risk Konoha to my meddling. If I joined it would be after they had formed. Till then I would stay away from that mess. But what would I do in the meantime? Maybe I could form my own organization…No. I was not a people person. I knew that. Even during my past life I was a hard introvert and was exhausted even by small gatherings. I also had all the charisma of a brick wall. It simply wasn't in my wheel house. Maybe I could join a noble house or make some stuff for some samurai? Maybe form some connections, approach them as an independent smith or builder? If I made some seal work fancy trinkets, I could gain the favor of some rich people. If I partnered with them maybe I could create a school. Introduce a new way of thinking to the people of the world. Possible, as long as I got someone else to be the people person. Also, the paperwork would need to be delegated. I would have to research that possibility more.

Beyond that I would need resources like metal and other substances. I didn't know what sealing would need beyond ink, but I knew there was a type of metal that channeled or absorbed chakra better. I would need to see about acquiring or replicating it. Certain trees were fed chakra to make alignment testing paper, which could make a fun experiment. It also might provide a peek into how chakra could be used even if one didn't have the correct bloodlines for it. For example, could one use ice with water chakra, even without the Yuki clan's bloodline? Even if was unsuitable for combat it still be incredibly useful for medicine or refrigeration. The tech levels in Naruto were all over the place, but from what I've seen it has been fairly low level over all. There were ice houses but the were generally only for the Butcher's or a general one in town. They harvested ice in the winter. Making personal Ice houses might be lucrative. I would need to convince Isu to make one for us. We typically smoked our excess meat but some things like fruit weren't so good with that. Oh! Could we dehydrate fruit? There were some primitive ways to do that but water release could be helpful again there. What about irrigation? With earth release we could make better cannels. We could build basements and wells in a flash. I wonder if other ninja already did some things like that?

I mused on these things for a while but eventually shook my head. I needed to focus. Power is what I needed right now. I had time to build later. I wonder if there were any clans that I could steal the secrets of. There was a clan that used explosions, which Deidara was a part of. I already might have some puppeteering stuff somewhere if Isu would open up about Grandma more. Maybe I could steal a Sharingan or a Byakugan? Either of those would be extremely valuable. Being able to memorize and steal jutsu was amazing even without all the other bullshit it could do. And the ability to see through and into anything was amazing for a medic or smith. Ah, the wonders I could make with that.

As I thought about that I calmly got up. Isu watched me as I walked to the edge of the camp. I found a large rock on the edge, and quickly smacked my head down on it several times. No, bad Kakuzu. No being Orchimaru. You might do things you don't like to survive but there must be limits. Bad Kakuzu. I walked back over to the fire and sat down. Isu only looked bemused at my antics. I turned the page and on its back I wrote another title, 'How Not to be an Asshole.'

First, no torturing for funsies. Second, no stealing peoples body parts just for power. It might very well give me power, but I saw the type of assholes that made. Looking at you Danzo and Snake Boy. But... what if was already fighting someone who had such a power? Could our therad hearts allow me to steal someones elemental bloodline? Or could it allow me to pluck out eyes as I wished? What if i- No!... no i wasn't going to think about this right now. It was too easy to justify such things. I would need to think more on it. In any case i still had more rules. Third, no live experimentation on sapients, no matter how good the benefits. At least no experiments on the unwilling or just to slake my curiosity. Fourth, no causing pain just because I hate a guy's face. If I hated someone, then just killing him would have to be enough. Fifth, no mind control. Just no. We were not going down that route.

I was sure I would come up with more rules later, but it was important that I start this now. I would not allow the pursuit of power to completely turn me into a monster. I might have lost a lot of my morals recently, but I knew the danger ambition could bring. No becoming a two-bit villain bent on revenge, or control, or some desire to force people to see things my way. I could and would be ruthless, but there were enough paths to power to find alternatives to Orochiness. Maybe I could even make something better than those bullshit eyes anyway. In any case it wasn't just about results, it was how and why I did things too. My faith in higher powers was in flux right now, but I would hold to the principle that karma or something like it could still mess me up. I also didn't quite hate people enough to just be the asshole I knew I could be.

In any case my next steps forward were clear. I would continue to train under Isu. I knew he knew the water clone jutsu, it could be the starting point of my shadow clone research. That would still have to wait till had more chakra before attempting. I would start seeking information on seals and medicine. I would try and bully Isu into making some improvements to our home, and I would see about smithing. All these could be very profitable in the long run. Each could be the work of a lifetime, but it seemed I might have several of those. It was time to get to workLast edited: Apr 30, 2025221BossjutApr 28, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 6 View contentBossjutMay 5, 2025#79Chapter 6​

I breathed in and out. I felt the water around me. I was in a shallow and still pool of water. I let the feeling of it infuse me. How it pressed against my skin, how it felt as I moved an arm or leg. I slowly reached out with my chakra. I tried to match that feeling. I let my chakra move around me, steadily turning the water clockwise around my body. I slowly turned around and around with it. Sometimes I reversed the water, which took a minute for my body to follow. Chakra, when it had left the body, became harder and harder to manipulate as it slowly dispersed into the land and air. You needed excellent control, and to occasionally infuse it with fresh Chakra. Do it too much though and you ran out of steam quickly. It was all about the right amounts at the right time. 

I looked up at the sky. It was a cloudy day, almost on the verge of rain. I had been at this for several hours by now. Elemental training was pretty soothing at this stage. I was sure Isu would throw me in a raging river at some point with my arms strapped to my side, but for now I was enjoying myself. I had been at this for the past two months ever since our mission had ended. We hadn't had any more ninja attacks from our area, though Isu had gone over to a couple of other teams and fought some strays there. Otherwise we were just clearing out bandits. 

I knew there was a prolonged conflict between the Senju and Uchiha before they finally achieved peace and founded Konoha. What I wasn't sure about was if it was all one big war or a series of smaller conflicts. The Senju and the Uchiha were about as big and strong as ninja clans got, but they still were numbered in the thousands, not the hundreds of thousands. I would be surprised if the number of active Shinobi actually surpassed more than a thousand for each of them. They were too nomadic in a mostly settled land to really have more than that.

Whatever the case I would need to be prepared for the road ahead. I had gone around the village talking to the different craftsmen, farmers and ninja. Most weren't too interested in talking to me, but there were the occasional friendly faces willing to answer my questions. A few were even willing to teach me their skills if I agreed to become an apprentice. I had to refuse that though. Besides Isu never allowing such a thing I would hopefully have shadow clones in a few years. That would open up a lot of free time.

The shinobi were a lot more guarded with their information. It made sense, their skills were a matter of life and death after all. No clan or family wanted strangers to get a hold of their secrets. A few of the smaller families and individual Shinobi were a bit more open for teaching, but that really was on a case-by-case basis and never for free. They either wanted something like money, an alliance, or a marriage. I could provide none of those at this point.

I did manage to strike a good friendship with an older guy. His name was Iseri Harchiro. He was the eighth son of his family. As he got older, he never actually got married due to the loss of one of his hands. That caused his prospects for marriage, but he didn't seem that lonely for it. He was staying on his own little slice of land connected to one of his brothers and his family. He often was over there taking care of his nieces and nephews. He was one of the farmers that we often bought from so we had regular contact with him. He was an experienced farmhand and was willing to assist me in some of my gardening ventures. 

It was with his help that I got into the beekeeping scene. I hadn't seen anything resembling modern beekeeping since I got here. Most of the time when a beehive was found it was harvested almost immediately and all honey and larva kept for use. It was rather wasteful, but as a small village we just didn't have anyone willing to try. We did import some honey form other places which kept bees though. I had seen a few hives in local villages during out mission, but none of them looked particularly advanced.

Luckily, I had seen some basic bee keeping videos before my arrival here. First, I traveled out to the forest and located a hive. I had Isu use his hardening technique and find the queen bee. We took it and put it in a box with a little honey. After disposing of the bees, I took it and went to the smith. I had him construct a wire divider that could allow the smaller worker bees to get thru, but contained the queen bee. After that I had a carpenter make two sets of three stackable wood boxes with openings alongside it. The bottom two would be for the bees, and the top would be for us. The divider separated the top from the bottom two. If it worked as planned the top would be pure honey. 

Into the boxes were sleeves that we could take in and out. Along the edges were little hexagon starters for the bees to start building on. We also had little bowls in case we took too much honey and needed to throw in some sugar water, and for a later experiment with chakra. I planned on concentrating chakra into the water. I wanted to see if that would benefit or hurt them in any way. They weren't the Aburame's chakra eating beetles (which was an interesting property I needed to examine at some point), but I had hopes this could improve either the honey or the bees in some way. First though I needed this to work.

I located two more hives, and had Isu grab them and dump them into the bottom of the boxes. It was summertime so I hoped the bees would have enough time to be productive before fall and winter hit. Iseri agreed to look after them and scare off any local wildlife that would interfere. He had a few dogs that regularly helped with herding and guarding chicken coops. I asked him to tell me when his next batch of puppies was in. I liked puppies.

Funny thing was is that I remembered there being a bee or wasp clan somewhere in stone, so I was sure someone had experimented with better bee keeping before. Maybe they kept it secret, or maybe such information had been destroyed. I really needed to travel at some point. I wondered how the various clans used their abilities in ways other than battle. I was certain that I wasn't the only one who did such things.

Other than my bee experiment I had Isu dig out a basement. It was rather small, just enough room for some selves and to walk in and out. The real promising part was that we were going to use it to preserve food. Due to the relative ease of molding stone with chakra we could make it relatively air tight too. Much less risk of bugs and contamination once I had him scorch the interior. 

The real success was that Isu could in fact make Ice. Very slowly but he could do it. Apparently, the Yuki clan didn't take kindly whenever someone tried to learn ice techniques and would usually kill anyone who they knew tried. Their Bloodline allowed them to create Ice using water and wind chakra. It was cheap (for them) and often had many esoteric effects that regular ice did not, such as the ice mirrors which granted insane speed. Other Ninja had tried to replicate it but it was chakra intensive and far weaker. If you added on to that the death rate due to the Yuki clan then it was no wonder it was mostly unknown and unused ability.

Isu could make ice with pure water chakra, but it took him most of a day to create enough to fill the room. He needed the water set out before hand, and it was much harder if in direct sunlight. For our needs he was simply creating big blocks mixed with wood dust. We fitted them into slots on the ground and walls. This should allow us to better store and preserve stuff. We planned to see how it would work for a few months to work out the kinks, then we would offer to build icehouses for some of the businesses and families around the village.

To note there were a few small icehouses owned by some of the more affluent people and butchers. We also had one public one that rented out room to some of the hunters and bars. They generally harvested ice during the winter and stored it through the spring and summer. We could build it cheaper though. We could also refill it if it melted too soon. It could make us a pretty penny in the long run if we played our cards right. More importantly it would increase our reputation and make some connections.

Things were looking up

I found Isu laying in his bed at home. It looked like the old timer was taking a nap. I poked at him with a stick, it was time for more training. I had spent a lot of time getting ready for my first true elemental jutsu. He snorted and his eyes shot open. His hand grabbed my stick and broke it in half. And that was why I never awoke him with my finger.

He turned to me and blinked groggily. "You couldn't wait till I woke up brat?" he yawned.

I just stared blankly at him. He was the one to set the time after all.

"Fine, fine." He spoke. "No need to take that tone with me. Meet me outside in five minutes."

Outside we stood in front of the well. We would need it as he taught me the water bullet Jutsu. Not sure where they got the word bullet from actually. It consisted of four hand sign and launching it at your target with a spin.

"Now, it's easy to have it shoot off to the side before you get the spinning right. The trick is you got to let the pressure build up directly in the center. If it's on the side it can fly right out. Kind of like a potter spinning wheel needs the clay in the middle. It will take you a minute at your level, but soon you can shoot it out with just a breath. Become good enough at chakra manipulation and you won't even need hand seals!"

I breathed as I pulled the water from the well. It gathered around in front of my face as I started spinning it and compressing it. It tried to force itself out as I kept spinning faster and faster. Soon it was going at incredible speed. I held it for a moment more, then forced my chakra forward in an explosion. Unfortunately, my core wasn't strong enough and instead of launching forward it exploded and sprayed water everywhere and drenched me. Isu found that hilarious

"HAHAHAH. You look like a drowned cat brat!"

I simply glared at him then tried again. I probably had enough chakra for four attempts at this. The next two ended better, but really lack any oomph. They flew only a few feet from me. The final one managed to shoot out and hit the tree I was aiming for. No visible damage, but it hit. Isu nodded approvingly.

"Not bad brat. Going to have to practice that more. Now you're probably wondering why we need to put a spin on it. You see it-"

"Accuracy at higher levels. Leading into another Jutsu" I answered. Isu responded with a fist too my head.

"Yeah, that true. You're still a bratty joy kill though. Not sure why giving it a spin helps make it better, but it does. Also, I will teach you the water drill at some. Good short-range piercer. Water isn't quite as dangerous as the other elements on its own. Earth can crush, fire burns, wind cuts, and lightning stabs and shocks. You can make them do other things of course, but water is the least naturally dangerous. It's also probably the most versatile. Mist, transportation, manipulation, shaping. It does all this and more, typically better than the other elements too, at least at the lower levels."

Isu knelt down to look me in the eye. "Remember this boy, it's not how powerful your jutsu is that matters. It's how you use it when dealing with an enemy. Good information and preparation are far better at keeping you alive than pure power. There will always be another shinobi stronger than you, but if you know his limitations and keep yours hidden you can still find ways to win or run away."

"All warfare is based on deception" I said.

Isu paused at that. "Yeah brat, that's pretty good. Sounds like a quote but I don't recognize it"

I shrugged "I read."

Isu shook his head. "Well, I got to go talk to the elders. I'm going to present the plan we got. I think we got most of the kinks worked out on the roads. It's time to act. You stay here and hold down the fort."

I grabbed his arm and looked at him. He sighed and shook me off

"It's not time for you to take center stage yet Kakuzu. Too many eyes will be on this, and like it or not you're not strong enough to defend yourself. We also can't trust that the different families will be peaceful toward us. Too much bad blood. Too many of us will rip each other's throat out if they think they can gain prestige or stop another's rise."

I tilted my head at him

"The elders might put a stop to overt rebellion, but they will only stick their necks out so far. We need to keep this as low key as possible so they won't get any ideas. For now, it's a good idea to keep the light on me as the maker of this idea. We used to have some prominence; others might kill us to stop us from rising again."

I sighed and nodded. He smiled at me and ruffled my hair

"Be patient Kakuzu, things will work out."

With that he was gone. It was a bit weird. He was just a touch softer ever since that attack a few months back. Still beat me into the ground, but he was more willing to engage in my ideas. Just a bit more willing to physically interact without it being for training purposes. I think he was actually starting to see me as his grandson and not just the legacy of the family. Whatever the case there was nothing to do but wait.

It had been three damn days! What was he doing over there!? I had been doing nothing but training and going over my designs. It was boring! I knew this plan was outside of the common ninja wheel house but it wasn't that complicated!

I sat in the house playing with some water. I had really stated to get the nature transformation down recently. The water coming quickly and easily to my command. I stretched it around and over me. I did a few stances with the water dancing around my forms. I felt like a water bender. Probably could pull it off with enough practice. I even slowly drew water from the air and drew it along my body. I knew the second Hokage was a water master, so who better to emulate?

Another trick was putting a little blood into the water. I took a little from some rabbits I killed and moved it along in the water. I tried isolating it, which was actually fairly easy if I did it from the start. Much harder was trying to reisolate it if I allowed it to mix thoroughly in. Maybe I could use something like this to get salt from the ocean. Probably needed earth chakra

My water bullet was also coming along great. I could launch in consistently and was even starting to get some power behind it. It still didn't have a good drilling property to it. I honestly wondered if it might not be better to drop that aspect for better speed, but that was the impatient part of me speaking. Other than that, fishing had become a breeze. I could draw a fish in a bubble of water and just pull them from it. It was tiring, but soon I could fish an entire section of a river! I just needed to be careful not to over fish. 

Finally, I heard the door open, and in walked Isu. He honestly looked horrible. His eyes were baggy and his grey hair was looking frazzled even by his lazy standards. In his hands were a book and a few scrolls. I jumped to my feet and walked over to him. I folded my arms and just glared at him.

"Yeah, yeah I know I'm late." He stated. "There was a bit more leg work than what I was expecting." He walked over to his chair and sat heavily in it. The chair collapsed in a pile of splinters and wood under him as he went sprawling. That was not a completely uncommon occurrence. He cursed as he got himself up. His threads unraveled from his arm and started to piece it back together.

"So, there was a lot of discussion about how to pull this off. We will need a team of about eight ninja. Four on construction and four for protection. Switch it around every few hours or so. That was fairly simple to work out and get ready. By the way, I got you a gift." He handed me the book and the scrolls.

"In there are all your grandma's notes on sealing. She wasn't an expert by any means, but sealing is part of a puppeteer's repertoire. Didn't want to give this to you too early, needed to focus on your fundamentals first. Also wasn't sure if you'd have the talent for it. Planned to sell it if you didn't, but I think your smart enough to use it wisely."

I looked down at the book. My desire to open it right then and there was great, but this seemed to come out of nowhere. I looked back at him. He had some bad news, didn't he?

He nodded at me, then paused for a bit. When it became clear I wasn't going to dig into the book he awkwardly cleared his throat.

"So, the thing is… your going to have to stay here."

My glare intensified and my hands became fists. This was my project damnit!

"I know, I know! I want you there too, but the situation has changed. Remember our mission? Well, the conflict which started that has kept expanding. Apparently the whole of the land of fire is starting to become embroiled into a big old war."

I paused at that. It sounded like the Uchiha and Senju war. And it sounded like they were drawing everyone in after them.

"So, our mission is twofold. We are building the roads, and we are serving as an advanced scouting group to make sure it doesn't spill over this way. Some of our strongest ninja are going. I can't do this and look after you too, there is way too much risk of you dying. Don't worry, I took more than enough notes about the roads, I can make any adjustments needed myself."

I simply looked at him for a few more seconds, then turned with a huff. He laughed at that.

"So, just in case something goes wrong. In the back of the book, I put a sheet of paper with directions to secret location. In that location is everything about our thread and a few sentimental things. If I don't come back, it's up to you to carry on our legacy, got it?"

I looked back at him, and nodded. I hesitated for a moment, then walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around him and hid my face in his shirt.

"Don't die." I said.

He scoffed but returned the hug after a moment. 

"It's going to take more than this to kill me brat. You'll be staying with Ketsu while I'm away. Make sure to burn that page after you memorize it. I will leave tomorrow."

All I could do was nod.277BossjutMay 5, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 7 View contentBossjutMay 12, 2025#109Chapter 7​

I awoke in a panic. Cold water soaked my bed as I bolted upright in shock. I spotted the form of Kuri standing above me with a bucket and a grin as wide as a shark.

"Kuri!"

I launched myself at her, her laughing form couldn't take all one hundred pounds of my indignant wrath. She toppled as I body checked her and we wrestled on the ground. Alas it was not to be. She was older and bigger than I was at this time, and quickly pinned me to the ground.

"That's what you get for sleeping in!" She said to my pinned form.

I ignored her for the second and concentrated. I infused all the water on me and the mattress with chakra, and using a softened form of the water bullet I launched it at her. She squeaked and tried to dodge, but was too close. She took it full on the face and water exploded everywhere again.

"Kakuzu!"

We didn't stop wrestling fighting for the next thirty minutes.

I had been staying at Ketsu's for the last year, and his hospitality was frankly far better than Isu's had ever been. I had my own little cleaned out room, and he regularly had actual food ready to cook and eat. He obviously was much better at financing the Isu ever was. The only real down side was that he just didn't have the skill set to teach me properly. He had the element of earth and was a weapon fighter. I was primary a water user and used my fist or knives. It was apparently bad to try learning a second element till you had really gotten advanced with the first. Mixing elements often had detrimental effects in the way of explosions when they mixed improperly, even element as tame as water and earth. Inexperience and lack of control could lead to accidental mixtures, so I was probably another few years off for that. This left physical training.

Ordinarily I would have had no issues with learning how to properly weapon fight, but his fighting style involved some family jutsu to supplement his kenjutsu. He wasn't willing to teach that to an outsider, even the grandson of a friend. He did teach me some basic sword techniques and stances, but refused to go any further. I got his reasoning, I was imposing on him a lot already, but it was frustrating nonetheless. All was not lost though.

What he could teach me was archery. I had used a bow, but it was nothing more than a passing familiarity. I was more comfortable with throwing knives instead. The bow was a different beast altogether. Arrows flew faster and had more penetration then Kunai, at least on the higher poundage bows. As ninja our strength allowed us really good power, or at least it would when I had a bit more strength and weight. My short arms also didn't do me any favors there. The range on a bow was better too. The only real downsides were that a bow was not a very subtle weapon, at least any that were actually useful for killing people. Weaker hunting bows were not uncommon, but still more obvious than a hidden knife. The second down side was that bow could not be used in close quarters while a knife could. Still, I was proud of my progress with the old bow he had gifted me.

Otherwise, my days passed as before. I physically trained, I played around with chakra, went on the occasional mission with Ketsu and Kuri, and did various little experiments with different ideas both mundane and otherwise. Today I was to check on the progress of my bees, and to pay a visit to my local bakery.

I entered the farm land. I found Iseri in his rocking chair. I often found him observing the sun rise. Aside from candles and lamps we didn't have any light for the night so the people of the village had the sunrise sunset schedule, but he often was up before even that. He looked like a content stereotypical farmer. Simple life and simple pleasures. He spotted me and waved his stump in hello. His other hand occupied with what I assumed was tea… or alcohol. 

"Hey there Kakuzu-san! Here to check on the bees? I have to say, we had a bit of an issue here the other day. I'm afraid we lost one of the hives you were tinkering with." He called.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, something bad happened to one of the marked hives, the one colored blue. It was two days ago, and I walked down to check to make sure nothing had bothered them. I found a lot of dead bees. Like, half the hive was destroyed. I went to check on any remaining bees and found them tearing themselves apart. Literally bees were chomping and stinging the other bees to death. Never seen anything like it. A day later and they either all killed each other or had fled, not sure which" Iseri replied.

Now that was news. It had been a couple years since I had built the initial hives, since Isu had left. After our initial success and survival of the colonies I had expanded business to six hives and even put another Super on the first two. We made a decent haul from the wax and honey last year. They weren't priceless by any means, but our pure honey had fetched us a higher price from the local bakers. They had made it back selling some honeyed sweet rolls the following weeks. It wasn't revolutionary, you could strain bee and larva parts out of other harvested hives, but we made a bit more for 'taking care of that pain in the ass process' then we otherwise would. I didn't correct them about straining it. The longer we kept it a secret, the more we would profit.

Back to Iseri's tale, I had decided to go ahead with my water chakra infusion process. Now that I was a bit older, I had a little more chakra to spare. I had taken two bowls of water and infused them with chakra, then set them next to the hives. One had been much more chakra dense than the other. I had marked the hives blue and green for the process. The blue one had the dense chakra water, the green the milder version. Time to see what happened

"I'll check it out." I told Iseri. I left to the outskirts where that particular hive was

When I arrived at the hive I found his story to indeed be correct. Dead bees were everywhere. Some had even been ripped in half by the jaws of their fellow bees. That should not be possible, bees didn't possess that type of jaw strength. I walked over to the hive itself I found it to have been utterly destroyed from the inside. Honey combs were partly ripped apart and larva were also destroyed. It might as well have been a horror movie scene. 

One thing caught my eye. It was a mutated larva, twice the size of a regular adult bee. It's jaws were wide and jagged. It looked like some kind of malformed wasp if I was being honest. I wasn't even sure that it was a bee larva. It was munching down in the other larva and dead bees. Seemed too much of a coincidence that this thing appeared after I started feeding them chakra water though. I took the squirming thing and put it I a little wooden box I had. I would analyze this more later. I needed to check the other hives. The bowl was empty, but otherwise untouched. I grabbed it as I left

The green marked hive was equally interesting, if a little less gruesome. The bees were swarming along just as normally as ever. It was when I approached that I found they seemed to zero in on me. I tensed my body as it seemed dozens of them flew out of the hive and headed toward me. Happily, I didn't need to flee, the bees seemed to be landing on me before taking off again. I had on a lot of thick clothes in preparation, but this was hardly my full bee keeping outfit. They didn't seem interested in stinging me though, simply dancing all around me. I wasn't sure what all this meant. I went to the front of the hive where the bowl was sitting on a self just outside it. It had a little cover to keep birds away but it wasn't too elaborate.

The water had been almost entirely emptied. I had put roughly a quarter of my full capacity in that bowl. The blue one had been a full day's worth. I had put these bowls out about a week ago. It was a fairly big bowl, about five liters of water in it. Around it were little markings, my patchwork sealing. Nothing special, just slowed the dissolution of chakra into the environment. Two years of study and it was one of three seals I had to boast for it. Shamefully it was the most complicated but least useful of the three. Until maybe today that is.

What was really interesting was the last little bit was being swarmed by the bees. They were greedily crawling around drinking it. Some even swoped down to get little mouthfuls. Now this was something worth investigating. I retreated to the house, the little swarm dissipating when I got far enough away from the hive. I grabbed a bucket, and filled it at the well. I spent a few minutes slowly infusing it with more chakra, same ratio as before. Getting back to the hive I approached the bowl. Slowly I started to poor it into the bowl. The bees gradually flew away as the water filled up, and returned when I stopped. Had to rescue two that refused to move though.

I watched fascinated as the swarm returned to drinking the water, their numbers much greater than before. They sure seemed to like it. I wonder if this would affect the honey they produced. This would take much more experimentation. Would they react differently to different substances? Or would the honey carry traces of my chakra? Would it change or enhance the honey in any way? Would it even feel like my chakra anymore? What was taking place inside the bee bodies too. At this moment I assumed my chakra was responsible for what happened in the other hive, but why did it have the effects it did? All questions to answer down the line.

I took one last look at the hive. They had just become a lot more important in my priorities.

As I returned to town, I slowly made my way over to the baker. I had struck a friendship with the baking couple in the last year after I introduced my honey. So much so that I intended to sell them another of my products. Good old maple syrup. I had taken a jar of honey over to the smith for him to make me some nozzles to put into the maple trees around home. He thought it a strange request, but acquiesced. It took some experimentation, and a couple trees perished from some diseases, but I had my first batches of maple syrup ready to go. 

I found maple syrup quite interesting. It was a simple thing, but the Europeans didn't even discover it until they came to the Americas. The natives had learned to harvest it so long ago that they had no records its discovery, though to be fair they weren't exactly meticulous record keepers to begin with. It was a prime example of a more technologically primitive society having something that a more advanced society did not, even if they technically had the means. It was always an interesting part of history to me. I had brought two bottles of it with me, in both finished product and raw form. I hoped they had finished my request. If they were able to make what I wanted then I would be happy to supple them with maple syrup for the rest of their lives.

A I approached the bakery I saw their teenage son at the front of the store. I honestly couldn't remember his name. I waved at him as I approached. He recognized me and called out to the back of the shop. 

"Mom! The little chef is back!" he shouted

"I'll be out in a minute Ji-ho! Offer him some tea! And mind your manners!" she called from the kitchen

Ah, Ji-ho. That sounds about right. The names around here honestly got confusing, and they tended to play fast and loose with the honorifics. They existed, but it wasn't like everyone used them all the time. I think it was the Kiri ninja here, they tended to be blunt and brutal. That may have slipped into the culture some because surrounding villages were stricter about it. Made it easier for me though, last names seemed so impersonal to me and honorifics were difficult for my American habits.

I took a seat as I waited. I pulled a book out of my sack, might as well get a little studying in while I wait. Grandma's sealing notes were not exactly an instruction Manuel. They were notes and different seals that were scattered in a very confusing matter. It was like reading someone's else's college notes. It was full of references and one-word answers and explanations that made no sense to anyone except the one writing it. I was able to puzzle out some things though. Both from the notes and my own experiments.

Sealing was essential lines of symbols that told chakra to warp in strange ways. The twelve sealing sings we used were in fact sealing symbols as well. Though you couldn't just write them down and get the same result. Symbols usually had very compact meaning, and could have multiple effects and interpretations. I also didn't play well with elemental transformations. It could warp chakra, but not change it fundamentally in the same way. If you wanted a fireball, you had to put in chakra already transformed. I think it had something to do with intent, but was not completely sure. How well and what you wrote it change its efficiency, but what also mattered was what ink you used, time of day, who was doing it, and a thousand other little things

For example, if you draw a seal to create fire then it is fairly simple to get a small flame. If you drew that seal right at noon directly under then sun then that flame might be ten percent stronger. Even after the day had passed the seal written under the noon day sun would be stronger than the one written at night, all other factors being equal. Something about that process and symbolism made the process better, less wasteful. It wasn't that it somehow added more chakra, more it enhanced the connection to fire chakra better. Whenever you used elemental transformation, your chakra took on the properties of that element. The better you are the less waste you have. So, unless you were drawing in the chakra of the world around you (not nature energy) then it must be that it made the process superior. Less chakra was wasted in the process. It might also be what made ninjas less interested in seals. There was always some waste, meaning it was weaker than just manually using a fireball

Additionally, ninja can master jutsu and not need hand signs at all. This also applied to seals. If a fireball needed six hand signs you could probably eliminate them all with control training. In sealing, you could put four of those signs down, but still need to use the other two. So theoretically I could write down half my signs in a seal and then master the end process to eliminate the last few signs. Of course, even if you didn't need hand signs you still needed control. Otherwise, you would have direction over what you made. For instance, you could add more chakra to a fireball to strengthen it, or weaken it depending on the need. The seals didn't allow for that on their own. So, unless you left certain parts open ended you were going to have difficulty adapting. But leaving enough room for on-the-fly adjustment was a much lengthier and complicated, process which also meant more wasted chakra and longer sealing array.

To make it even more complicated, many fire jutsu needed breath to operate, which could take many symbols to represent in the way I wanted while a normal user of fire simply needed to breath for that part to work. Little things like that could make a seal fail, and I would have no idea why unless I understood all the details. Much more went into a jutsu then just the signs, but we didn't consciously think about every little part happening. The best results I usually got was to use it to simplify a jutsu I already knew. It was frustrating though because I wanted to create entirely new techniques, not just enhance or speed up the ones I did know. 

Another problem was the material used to inscribe the ink. Different substances had different effects. Chakra conductivity was usually the main factor, but there were exceptions. Fire for example would work better with an ash-based ink, even if it was somewhat less conductive to chakra than other options. Plants that were fed chakra and turned into ink often had pretty good results, but were so slow to make. Another method, one I found in grandmothers notes, was the blood of the one inscribing the seal. It had a few drawbacks, such as limited production or a somewhat short shelf life. It was still the easiest one to get my hands, though I had to be careful not to take too much at a time. Also had to be careful to avoid infection. I could use other blood, but it was almost inert compared to my own. This was for two reasons could tell. First was that my blood was accustomed to conducting chakra, making most civilian and animal blood considerably less useful. The second was that it was my blood, meaning it was used to my chakra and thus easier to control. Another Shinobi's blood was less responsive to my chakra, though better than animal or civilian blood.

.

There was more at work than I was seeing in all this, though I didn't necessarily have to understand every component to make seal, but my ability to create and modify them would be greatly reduced until I got more information. This felt like I was trying to be a programmer, poet, and mathematician at the same time. Not a great time. Still, I had managed a few successes. My bowls, a little light I had made, and a special cap I had created that used a modified henge.

As I perused my book, I heard some loud footsteps approaching. A big woman came out of the back of the bakery. She wasn't fat in an obese way, but still had more cushion than anyone I knew. This time period and life style didn't leave most with excess food after all. When she spotted me and a wide smile opened across her face.

"Kakuzu dear! How have you been!"

I found myself engulf in a hug as I was lifted bodily into the air. A swung there for a moment before she released me and I stumbled a bit. I gave her my best dead pan stare but it didn't seem to bother the exuberant woman who laughed at my reaction. I cursed my small and currently adorable face. They wouldn't have that reaction in a few years.

"Sit down, sit down! I got that that flat cake that you wanted so badly. It took a bit of experimentation, but I remember seeing something like this when I visited a city to the south with my husband. I can never remember the name of that city"

She walked into the kitchen, and came back out with something I hadn't seen in years. A stack of fluffy pancakes. I could smell them from here. I resisted the urge to drool, it was hard after so long. She placed them in front of me, they had been kept warm for in a heating spot in her kitchen. I had asked her to experiment to make these after our honey deal, telling her that I had a special idea for a new meal. I reached into my bag, and pulled out the bottle of finished maple syrup. Her eyes watched it intently.

"Is that the special syrup you were so eager to show me? Looks a little like honey."

I gestured for her to take a seat. When she did so I put half of the pancakes onto a plate for her. I uncorked the syrup and pored it over the two stacks. I sat down and cut into mine. I tried not to stuff my face, but I can't deny that my fork moved a bit faster than usual. The flavor threw me back in time to when my own mother cooked for me. She was probably the best cook I had ever known. I missed her. Suka reminded me of her a bit, though she was generally far more cheerful than my mother ever was.

Suka tentatively took a bite while I ate, her expression thoughtful. It quickly turned into delight as she chewed. She ate a little slower than I, savoring it more. By the time she was finished there was a content smile on her face.

"Well I'll be, that was good. I didn't doubt you of course but it's rare that someone has heard of some dish that I haven't. What's this stuff called?" She said pointing at the bottle.

"Maple syrup. Got it from a maple trees. Boiled it down about a forty to one ratio." I replied

A strange look came over her face for a moment, but she quickly smoothed it over with a smile. It was rare for a ninja to ever tell a people their secrets, I bet it startled her how open I was about this one. This wasn't one I wanted to keep secret though. Another could refine the honey process, but this one was unknown from what I gathered in my investigations. Her face soon changed to her bargaining expression though

"Well, how much do you have on hand? I think I would like to try it on some other dishes"

With that we launched into negotiations.

About thirty minutes later I promised to return with about five jars of the product, pretty much everything I had except my own personal supply. I would make a pretty Ryo out of all this. I also secured a free tasting of whatever she made in the future too. It was actually something I had been doing around the village, introducing some foreign foods to different cooking stalls. Spaghetti to a ramen stand, hamburgers to a barbeque stand and some other things. I even started to get called little chef around the place. My reputation wasn't great, I was very much an odd child, but there was a more relaxed atmosphere around me than previously. As I prepared to leave Suka grabbed my shoulder. Not a wise thing for a civilian to do but she still saw me as a child

"How are you doing Kakuzu-san? I know your grandfather has been away for a while. Are you worried about him?"

I hesitated for a moment, then shook my head

"He's hard to kill." I said.

That did little to dimmish to worried look on her face

"I'm staying with Ketsu and Kuri until he returns." I added

She reluctantly let me go, frown never leaving her features. She was a good woman, but ultimately, she couldn't do much for me and my situation. I wasn't messed with much, but I was very much the kid that others pointed at and told their own children not to be like. I cared little for others' opinions, and was considered quite rude with my language. But I was also a ninja. Ninja were not usually liked, but we were also very dangerous to the comparatively weak civilians. They didn't dare mess with me directly, and while disrespected in subtle ways I was never outright outcasted or refused service. That was of course if the civilian even recognized me. It was a fairly close-knit community but we were just a bit too large for everyone to recognize every stray child. Orphans were not terribly uncommon after all. Other ninja also tended to ignore me as I had little real power or social status. My side ventures were considered beneath them as long as I wasn't a threat. I had yet to make any direct enemies among them as well. Any who had hated my grandfather enough to seek physical retaliation against us had been killed or 'mysteriously' disappeared years ago. 

All this to say I was tolerated, but not liked. I had managed to get a few friendly faces on my side over the years, but it was very much something I initiated with gifts and business ventures. Most of those were friendly enough like Iseri, but Suka actually cared enough to try and help as she could.

As for Isu, it had been two years, and the original mission was an estimated year to a year and a half. Still, this was construction work. It always took longer than estimated. He'd be fine. But that did leave me in a conundrum. It was about time for me to check up on the secret location that he had left me with. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd find, but I knew that the Earth Grudge Fear technique would be there in some form. 

That… was a terrifying thought. I would worry about someone stealing it, but I had learned over the years that it wasn't something you could just slap on to someone. It had certain body and blood requirements to use properly. Additionally, even though ninja were killers many of them shuddered at the idea of such extreme modifications to the body. If one was obsessed with power above all then they might do it, but if they wanted things like a family and prestige and acceptance then it wasn't a good gamble. After several conversations with Isu I had also determined that no one knew just how far the technique could go. So most just didn't think it was worth it to steal from a possible irate Isu. 

I myself wasn't sure if I really wanted it. I was afraid. Afraid of being a monster, afraid of becoming like Orchimaru, afraid of losing all of the tenuous connections I had made with the people around me. In the end though I would have to come to a decision one way or another. To take the plunge or to reject it. Of course, if Isu returned then that point was moot. He would force me into it.

As I slowly walked back to Ketsu's I came to a decision, or at least the beginning of one. I needed to learn more about everything this entailed. It was time to dig up Isu's hiding place, and my future.248BossjutMay 12, 2025View discussionThreadmarks Chapter 8 View contentBossjutMay 26, 2025#127Chapter 8​

I got up early that morning. I headed to the kitchen, recipe in hand. Pancakes were actually fairly easy to make, and I knew that Kuri would love them. She generally like sweet things. Ketsu was more of a spicy guy. I would be making a bit of a trip for the next few days to Isu's hiding spot, so I wanted to leave them on a positive note.

As I made the batter I wondered if I could find some blueberries or chocolate somewhere. I enjoyed both in my pancakes, though never together. Unfortunately, Blueberries were really limited by season, and chocolate was a rare commodity. I would need to find some coco trees and start my own hidden greenhouse somewhere. I would be lying if I said good food wasn't one of my joys in life. My mother had been an amazing cook, and I had loved every meal she made.

Soon the smell of the pancakes (along with some eggs and sausage) permeated the air. It wasn't long before Kuri stumbled from her room in an oversized blanket. She was normally a cheerful early riser, but last night she had stayed up late with Ketsu watching fireflies. I sometimes attended their bonding moments, but that one was a tradition just between them. Apparntly she used to do that with her mother before her passing. She looked over at me in an apron and blinked. I occasionally cooked for them, but it always seemed to put her off just a touch. Probably because I always made weird food to her. I remembered the time I made hamburgers, she had loved those. She was a little carnivore at hearts, but she couldn't handle her spices. I had made some tacos with some local peppers and she just about burned away. I think she thought of me as the pandora's box of cooking

I gestured for her to take a seat, and went back to cooking. I poured out the batter on a skillet, and threw some wood in the stove. I missed electric and gas stoves. As soon as I got lightning release, I would re-invent that here. I listened to the sizzles of the varies meats and cakes, flipping where needed. A window was open to let out the heat, and it was a beautiful morning. I heard the door open, and Ketsu walked in. I had assumed he was still asleep, but apparently he was out running some errand or another. He had a rather grim expression, but when he spotted me a large grin spread across his face.

"Ah, looks like we are in for a treat today!" he spoke. He definitely was the more adventurous eater of the two. I hadn't made a thing yet that he hadn't scarfed down.

I gestured for him to take a seat and continued to stack pancakes on plates. Soon I had a little mountain of them. I brought all the food over. Ninja could pack down food more than just about anyone else so cooking for them could be a pain. It was a little-known fact among civilians that the more chakra you burned the more food you needed to replace it. The Akimichi even based a whole fighting style around the concept of calories to chakra. I had no idea how they enhanced their bodies to accomplish that. Something to ponder and exploit if I could.

As I put the plates down, I pulled out my maple syrup jar. I poured it over the pancakes. Ketsu knew what it was from previous discussions, but Kuri would be in for a surprise. Ketsu gladly dug in while kuri poked at it a bit first. She tentatively took a little lick of it, and her eyes widened. She proceeded to demolish her plate. I placed some water for them and got started on my own pile. We all ate with gusto, but kuri finished before either of us had even gotten half-way. Her face a syrup all over it, which she licked at.

"Stop that kuri! Let me get you a towel. That is no way for a lady to act." Ketsu said.

He grabbed a towel and got a little water on. He wiped her face until it was clean again. During this whole process she remained buried in her blanket. As soon he was done, she curled up and laid her head on the table. Ketsu just sighed as he watched his daughter. She was getting to that age were rebelliousness was starting to get common. He glanced over at me and nodded.

"Thanks for the food Kakuzu. Was there a special occasion or was this just a new whim of yours?"

I grabbed the jar of syrup and put it on the table.

"Wanted to give Kuri some. Cook finally made the pancakes work. I… will be gone for a while. Maybe a week. Isu hasn't returned yet so it is necessary to gain information on my abilities."

He nodded again at me.

"Ok." He said

Kuri finally raised her head. "Is this about those creepy strings that Isu had? I heard around town that it freaks everyone out. Why would you want something as weird as that?"

"Kuri! Mind your manners!" ketsu admonished. "This is his heritage your talking about!'

I quietly agreed with her. Outwardly I spoke "It's necessary. I'm too weak."

"Well, I wish you didn't want to follow after that old man. There are other ways to get strong. No one around here liked him anyway. He always smelled of alcohol, and he was always really rude."

Ketsu was on his feet instantly. "That is no way to talk about him Kuri!" he had an amazing shouting voice. Nice and commanding. "Especially with Kakuzu in the room! Apologize this moment!"

"And if he comes back Kakuzu will have to go back to that horrible little shack! I hope he died on that stupid mission! Then Kakuzu could stay here with us forever!" She shouted right back.

A loud crack rang out. Kuri's head was turned to the side. Ketsu's hand was raised. He spoke in a low and quiet voice.

"What do you think Kakuzu would think if his grandfather died, and that you wished that on him?"

Tears formed in Kuri's eyes, and she turned and ran from the table. She fled back into her room. Ketsu sighed and sat back down. Physical punishment was rather common during this time period, but Ketsu was always gentle with her outside of training. He actually sometimes needed to hand her off to a friend for some of the harder lessons because of his unwillingness to go too hard on her.

We sat in silence for a few moments. Finally, I looked up at him.

"She isn't completely wrong, Isu is a piece of shit."

I got a halfhearted chuckle from him. He looked up at the ceiling thinking for a few moments before meeting my eyes

"She needs to learn to watch her tongue. True or not, the wrong words at the wrong time can lead to many deaths. We never know who is listening after all." He said.

I tilted my head at him.

"Then why don't you try to correct how I act and speak?" I asked

At this he actually gave a full bark of laughter.

"Ha! As if I would even know where to start with you! Do you understand just how strange people find you Kakuzu? You always look people in the eyes to start. Regardless of station or friendliness. Only equals and enemies look each-other in the eye. Inferiors always should avert their eyes, which to a ninja is just about everyone except for other ninja and nobles. Unless we are undercover of course. Even then, it's safer to avert eyes because of the Uchiha. One look from them could spell the end for anyone."

He took a long drink, then continued.

"You never bow other than small nods, you almost never haggle because if someone names an outrageous price you simply walk away. You almost never even lie! The most you do is omit information. And it's not because your ignorant of these customs, it's more because you don't even care! If someone won't play by your rules you simply ignore them. You barely talk, and you always call people by their first name when you do speak! You come off as completely rude, prideful, and condescending almost all the time! But it's still not a good estimate of you! You are actually really patient with people who would be considered beneath you, especially children. You almost always humor Kuri not matter how much she personally annoys you. You make friends with the oddest people in town, and they are exclusively adults."

He leaned in close to me.

"Did you even know that that baker actually is considered something of a violent and wild woman? Good at cooking yes, but willing to drive people off if they bother her, no matter their importance. You actually find her good company while most others are slightly afraid of her if they aren't ninja or rich. The other ninja that you kept bothering to teach you for a while? They expected you to haggle down the price, or even simply give them a child when your older. It's not terribly uncommon in Shinobi culture. People who have good chakra reserves breed good chakra reserves. And despite your poor attitude you have larger than average reserves. You think no one sees your abilities? Your nine and can cast a water bullet cleanly, perfected the henge to an adult's standards, and your chakra strings are almost to a combat level. I know you picked up the hidden mist jutsu even if you don't have the reserves to cast it. You can already water walk, and are physically almost as formidable as Kuri in sheer raw speed and power. People notice that during missions. You come with these new dishes and food products, and barely even guard your secrets! You told that woman about your maple syrup! If you had been boasting I would have understood but been disappointed. But that's not what happened. It's like you didn't care that someone would steal it. You simply explained it like she was family and you were making conversation. Those types of secrets should stay close to the vest Kakuzu."

He paused for a moment, looking at my reaction. Internally I was wincing, but outwardly kept my face blank. He was right of course. When I came into this body, I inherited its memories, but didn't retain the original's habits. Staying with Isu was both blessing and curse. He didn't care about my habits, but also didn't correct them in line with the cultural norms. I also never cared much for such things in either of my lives. I feared trying to break that now would be very hard and time consuming. I didn't have time for that. Not with what was coming

He watched me as I mulled it over. Finally, he spoke again.

"That's another thing too, whenever someone corrects you then you think it over. You almost always respond like an adult rather than a child. Your rarely balk or show disgust, you simply absorb information and move on. The only time I ever catch you acting like a child is when you are with Kuri, and that's usually more for her benefit rather than a true reaction. She adores you; I can see it. I know I tease her about a marriage between the two of you, but your more like her brother than anything. Her older brother at that. Your so strange by most standards. Even some of the wild and homeless children learn to mimic behaviors to manipulate people. You don't. You don't cry, you don't scream, you don't run from the table in tears. You sit and listen. You are like no other child I have ever met. Most don't look that closely at you, but many of them can sense that something is off. I truly don't know how to address all of that. My gentle corrections are ignored, and I fear that anything harsher is likely to fail as well."

Again, silence spread between us. I digested all of it, then gave him a nod.

"I see… thank you for your explanation. You looked grim when coming in this morning. Is there news?" I said

Ketsu threw his hands in the air in exasperation

"See what I'm dealing with!" he whisper shouted into the air. "Just a thank you and move along now! But yes, we have a situation. We have reports of some bandits once again traveling into the area. Not a major concern normally, but there is something different about these. A small gang of shinobi have gathered several hundred of them. There are a few ronin with them as well. They are coming this way. They should be here in two weeks if we are not mistaken. Very slow for normal ninja groups but they are pillaging along the way. The elder council fears they are coming this way to claim these lands. I am being sent undercover into the group as they are accepting stray ronin and rouge shinobi. We don't know their ultimate goals, but it is almost certainly violent."

"Is there anything we need to do?" I asked

"Not yet, I don't trust you guys on your own quite yet so no independent missions more than a day from the village. You guys aren't considered frontliners at this point anyway. If the village is breached than you will need to fight, otherwise stay in town. I would say your search is a bad idea at this time but frankly with the world at the moment there is no good time. They are coming from the north, and you are headed south to a secret location, right?"

I nodded

"Then it's about as good as it's going to be. I will tell Kuri about this when she's calmed a bit. I leave tomorrow."

He stood from the table, then hesitated.

"Look after her, okay? This will be dangerous, and I don't want her alone if something happens to me."

"I won't leave her alone" I promised.

I ran through the woods, occasionally taking to the trees for some movement training. Isu's hiding spot was really out of the way. It was at least a two day's journey from the shack I had shared with him. It didn't really matter, but it seemed odd to place it so far from home. It would make it vulnerable if someone like a Inuzuka stubbled across it accidently. Regardless, at least I was getting in a good run.

I continued my journey, dodging the occasional wasp nest or bear wondering around. It was rare but possible to run into ones that had just a bit more oomph than usual. I heard tales of how our village had giant jaguars of some kind before they were wiped out by the original shinobi settlers. Certain places were just chakra dense, which altered the wild life. Usually, it made them bigger and meaner, but sometimes it gave them weird mutations. You usually knew what those places were, the atmosphere was usually intense or strange in some way. A lingering side-effect of dense chakra.

I had heard of many reasons such places existed. One was ancient battlefields that had generations of chakra wielders battling and dying there. If left to fester then wild creatures would turn strange and violent. Another was the tailed beasts. They left such potent and thick chakra that it mutated the land around them. Another still was places were spirits or kami lived. They had ties around certain concepts and locations. A fox spirit might lead to a cunning and thieving population of its metaphorical children.

After some internal debate I decided I more or less believed such tales. After all the forest of death was in canon proper. Additionally, I occasional came across animals that were bigger or smarter than usual, but that could have been the result of half a dozen things from genetics to individual chakra capacity. My time with the bees had given more credence to those stories though. I would have to explore such locations. Especially if the tailed beasts had such capabilities. They might be even more useful and dangerous than I thought.

As I mused over that I finally came to the stump of a large tree. I could have laid across the stump full spread such was its size. This was the place. I took a knife from my pouch and drew it across my hand. I let the blood seep into the wood and waited.

It took a while. This was a purposeful design of my grandmothers. Most people think seals activate instantly. It was actually a fairly standard security measure for blood seals not to show themselves immediately. Almost all blood seals, that is a seal that activates by using or identifying blood, would react to anyone's blood, but the real fancy ones could identify a specific person or clan bloodline. Enemy ninja would often kill the necessary target to make it work. They also tended to be impatient. Sometimes if you got lucky, they would think they had the wrong spot or the wrong guy. It was just another layer of protection.

I waited for about half an hour before it finally happened. The stump slowly dropped out in the middle and a staircase lead down into the darkness. I frowned a little at that. I stomped the ground and sent out a pulse of chakra. My toph sensing technique was frankly an unpolished mess of an ability. In basically allowed me to sense the area directly around me in two-meter radius. It was slow, took way too much chakra, and didn't allow me to sense vibrations. It did allow me to 'feel' what my chakra ran though. I could feel it slide around dirt, clay, and stone until it reached the stump. Interestingly, I could not 'see' the stair case from the outside. This was more than a hidden path. This was somehow an actual portal or adjusted summoning of some kind. I had never seen such a thing before, so maybe I was wrong, but I think if I walked down those steps then I would be transported somewhere very far away.

I took a deep breath, and started my descent. I walked, and walked, and walked some more. The path didn't stay descending during that either. It leveled out, turned, and even ascended at some points. There were stone walls around me, and the path never branched out. Despite that I got the feeling that I was lost somehow. A slow feeling started to rise in the back of my mind that I was not alone. The air was stale and heavy. It seemed as if a weight pressed down on my frame. It never quite became a struggle for either breath or strength, but it was not far off either.

The path was pitch black. I dared not light a torch. As soon as I had that thought a feeling of dread washed over me. Whatever was here with me I did not want more ire or attention then I already had. The path never deviated anyway. I did try pulsing my chakra out once to sense the stone walls, but the chakra was immediately lost. It was just… gone. No feedback of any kind. I was no sensor, but any ninja could still sense their own chakra even out of the body. It was how the whole toph technique worked. But wherever I was it absorbed my chakra fully and completely. That more than anything told me my instincts were correct. I had the attention of something down here.

I pressed forward. I dare not run, but I tried to walk as quietly and quickly as my training allowed. I kept one hand on a wall to steady myself. I walked. I kept walking. The direction shifted again. I rose and fell. The darkness clung to me. There was a dampness in the air. A feeling of death filled the air. It had transcended a mere feeling and was almost palpable. I had felt killing intent before. It was a trick of spiritual chakra. It was a wave of a person's willingness to kill. This was almost the same. The main difference was that I felt no chakra residue. I knew it was external, but it slowly permeated every part of my body and mind. It almost felt like a parasite. A worm wiggling into my head. I did my best to ignore it, but it was hard to stop the trembling that had started in my limbs. I pressed forward anyway. I initially just came here for more information, but it seemed that I had stumbled into something more dangerous than I could imagine. Still, I feared that there was no way back, only forward.

My hand stayed firmly against the wall. It was my one source of security in this place. The one thing that was real aside from the ground. It had a roughhewn texture to it. As I kept my hand on it though I started to feel something. It was hard to tell but was it shifting? I paused for a moment. I kept my hand against the cold stone for ten seconds, then twenty, then for several minutes. Yes, the wall had a faint pulsing to it. The stone itself didn't move, but a small tremor came at regular intervals. I hadn't noticed it before. Was I in some creature? I hoped not.

After an uncertain amount of time had passed, I saw a faint glow ahead. At first, I had thought I imagined it, but the darkness gradually fell away. I saw an opening ahead of me. As I approached, I saw large glowing mushrooms. The wall fell away and I stepped into a large open chamber. Mushrooms and a few other lichen lined the wall. In the center of the room I saw a black pond. I approached it and peered inside. The water was perfectly still. It was impossible to see passed the surface. I kicked a small pebble into it. No ripple was seen, no sound was made. It simply passed the surface with no reaction.

Clearly this…pool wasn't natural to any degree. I doubt now that it was even water. I walked along its edges, but could discern no change in either the pool or the edge. The presence from before had not diminished, but its attention felt divided between me and whatever this was. That would have been comforting if I didn't have the feeling that something even worse was here. It wasn't the same as the presence, no dreading feeling of death, just a certainty that whatever came next would be beyond what I could imagine. That was when it began

It started slow. I didn't even see the first few emerge. Black threads slowly arose from the pool. They were thin, about a third the width that I had seen from Isu's arm. The looked… jagged. More like roots then threads. They rose from the pool and latched onto the celling. More arose, none causing any sort of ripple in the pool. Soon I saw nothing but a screen of the root like threads until everything finally stopped. For a moment it felt like time was suspended. I dare not even breath because of the stillness. Then a shifting started in the threads. They started to part and a hand emerged out of the wall of threads.

It was wrinkly and old, the skin paler than any I had seen before. The threads continued to part and more of the creature emerged. The figure was old like the hand. A face of an old woman adorned it. There was only a little hair, and as it smiled at me, I could tell what little teeth it had were rotten. This was not a person; this was a corpse. The old woman was nude, but wrapped in strings that thankfully obscured most of her. The strange strings entered her body, and I could see the writhing under her skin. It made me somewhat queasy to see them moving in her wrinkled hands and face. She simply looked at me with a strangely serene smile. Again, I felt suspended in time, but this time I was the one to break it.

"Are you the threads themselves, or are you someone sacrificed to them?" I almost stumbled over the question. My hands were shaking and I closed them into fists in an effort to maintain control.

She said nothing for a moment, then her hands reached out to me. I felt the urge to flee, but barely managed to suppress it. I doubted there was anything I could do to escape. Her hands caressed my face. She simply held me there and stroked my face for a moment, then her mouth opened.

"I know you dear. You are the one the deal was made for. The one with the right blood, the right body." Her words did not match the movements of her mouth.

The comment flooded my mind with thoughts, but one arose above the others.

"Are you, my grandmother?" I whispered.

The figured paused at that, then shrugged.

"I might have been, or maybe I am all that remains after she cast herself into the pool. Once a woman decided that she would sacrifice all for her family, and her life would be the offering for power. You are to be the recipient for that power." She spoke.

I couldn't freeze any more than I already had, but if I could I would stiffen even further. She examined me for a moment more. The shook her head in that jerky motion

"You aren't ready." she said. "Neither your mind nor you body is prepared for what is ahead. You are too young still" Her hands retracted from my face at that. "The time will come, but not yet. I have something for you until then."

Strings came up from the ground, holding several scrolls.

"These are the techniques shared among our family. We lost most of them years ago, but the few that remain I took for safe keeping."

The threads brought them to me, which I gingerly accepted. Several of these scrolls felt old and ready to crumble. As I did so she tilted her head at me.

"You have questions. Ask them. I will permit three, but no more. Being here is… tiring." Her voice shifted form an almost grandmotherly tone to something harsher. The octave shifted downward till it almost sounded like a man. Whatever she or it was, it was not just my grandmother. I thought for a moment.

"What is needed for me to be ready?" I asked first, all other questions were secondary to that.

"You need to be older, at least when puberty starts. I need a sample of your growth for your future adult body. You need not be a adult in full though. The spirit changes first, and I can sense such change and its destination." It spoke in a low rumble. It paused for a moment. "A living heart will make the process smoother too. More likely for you to survive. Above all you must have an unwavering will to live. Anger, hate, fear, love, the emotion matters not, but you must have a commitment to survive."

Okay, that opened a lot of other questions, but I need to stay focused.

"You said she cast herself into the pool. What exactly were you before she did that?" I asked

It paused for another moment. Stings flowing gently around it. Its blank corpse eyes seemed to stare into the distance. Finally, it spoke.

"I was here a long time, before the water your people cherish so much. Before the rise of those you call the daimios. Before the appearance of the great chakra beasts. Before even the rise of chakra itself. I put here by some being that I have no name for. Trapped in the earth, hating those above. I will kill that being one day. I first ignored that thing you call chakra, but in time found that its abilities were varied and powerful. It will be the instrument of my revenge."

The creature smiled again. This was a much darker grin, filled with murderous intent. I couldn't help myself, I shuddered. I took a second to compose myself then asked the third question.

"What do you get out of all of this, what price am paying you?"

The creature paused for a moment, considering. Finally, it spoke once again

"I usually get a portion of your chakra, much like some of the things called summons in your land. I do not naturally possess chakra; it took much adaptation to use it properly. It takes much to break the bonds on me." I looked at me, its voice changing back to a grandmotherly tone. "It's part of why I threw myself in here you know? I had ideas for how far this ability could go. I negotiated, I planned, I experimented. The price you pay is nothing, nothing beyond what is needed to live anyway. I sacrificed myself, and in return it will give a part of itself to you. My sacrifice finally satisfied its ability to create its own chakra, the only reason we are still here is to fulfill its end of the bargain." She reached out to me and again stroked my face.

"You needed the right blood to properly utilize all its techniques and abilities. I had hopes that my daughters could do it, but they failed me. Their blood was close, but wrong in some fundamental way. I found that a Shinobi from the land of water held the missing piece. I arranged a marriage between one of my daughters and them. It was your birth that finally saw my plan come to fruition. I will implant a portion of myself in you. It will be bound to you and you alone. I will depart, and no one will ever have this again unless you somehow duplicate it. The price is paid already." She was smiling as gently as her corpse could, but I still sensed hesitation. "You… will need to be careful. The being that trapped us here might still seek revenge upon you. I don't know how or if it even will, but you could still one day fall to its machinations. I plan to kill it, but I don't know how long that will take or if I even can."

Her face and voice once again shifted.

"Enough, I tire. Return here when you are ready. When next you arrive, I will start the process, no matter the circumstances. If you do not return here by your thirtieth birthday than the contract is void and I will depart. Now leave."

With that she sank back into the dark pool, threads curling inward. I was left alone in the dark. After a few moments of silence, I turned and left.