章 34: Chapter 34: Most Wanted

It was a rather beautiful morning, the sun was rising just above the horizon, the gentle morning breeze bringing a sense of coolness to everything before the heat of the sun took hold and everyone rushed to the safety of the shaded trees and cool drinks.

In a certain clearing within one of Konoha's mini forests, a boy and a panda stood face to face. Both of them held bamboo shoots that matched their heights. They stood with attention, ready to spring forth, studying all the minor movements of each other.

The wind whistled through the leaves and marked the beginning of the battle.

Shin rushed forwards and stabbed towards the panda, knocked the attack away, brought back the bamboo shoot and thrust it forwards in a smooth movement. Shin's red eyes perceived the incoming attack with ease as he too brought back the bamboo shoot and used the back side to defend the constant stream of incoming thrusts until he found his chance.

Shin defended another stab, deflecting it downwards before turning and stabbing at Lao. The panda however anticipated it and jumped in the air, bringing down the shoot at Shin's head. Shin blocked the attack by bringing up the backside of the bamboo but the attack didn't stop as Lao proceeded to stab at Shin on his way down. Every hit was aimed at Shin's vulnerable spots on his torso but the perceptive Sharingan was able to capture every attack, allowing him to easily defend against it and just when Lao landed, Shin aimed for his legs but the old panda was able to jump back.

Shin let him escape as he followed through with a long thrust which the panda avoided by jumped back again, only face the bamboo coming down from above as Shin jumped forwards and spun midair, striking down with such great force that the ground cracked from the attack.

Lao tried to stab at Shin's torso once more but Shin simply swatted it away using his bamboo and dropped down, swiping his legs at the panda's feet. Lao jumped up to avoid it but was met with a stab midair and shot towards a tree. By the time Lao looked up, a bamboo was already bearing down on him so he dodged left as the bamboo struck down. Shin gave a straight kick to his right as the panda tried to parry it but fell into a flurry of kicks with the occasional stabs from the bamboo shoot until he failed to notice a palm coming at him.

Lao rocketed towards a tree, smashing into it before sliding down. He panted for a few moments before catching his breath, "You have improved so much in such a short time. Not to mention, those eyes of yours see quite a lot don't they?"

Shin saluted the panda by putting his fist to his palm and bowing a bit, "I had a great teacher." The old panda chuckled before getting serious, "It's already been two months. Are you sure you are up for it?" Shin nodded before sighed, "I am but… the fuinjutsu techniques I want are heavily protected. I can't just sneak in without having a whole army of ninjas after me."

Lao nodded as he closed his eyes to think, opening them after a bit, "Your chi had increased a lot in these two months. I think it's time you learn to properly utilize it." Shin was surprised to hear this but also ecstatic. During these two months he had come to a conclusion, Chi was vastly stronger than chakra. When he used Chi powered strike, it caused far greater damage and it could also cause internal injuries which made it far more dangerous as well.

Shin gathered that for every level he gained with Chi, it was equivalent to gaining 2 levels with chakra, not to mention that his increased life force had resulted in a higher vitality and healing ability. Higher chi had also improved his physical growth, which in turn increased his level from 70 to 73 with a 5 level gain in Chi. In a way, Shin had leveled up 7 times in 2 months.

"I am going to teach you three techniques, they will not only improve your combat ability but also allow you to go unnoticed." Lao spoke as Shin sat down and listened attentively.

"The first is the Turtle breathing technique. It will reduce your need to breathe, reduce your metabolism and temperature, essentially it will reduce your presence. It is easy enough to learn, you basically reduce your bodily functions, burning chi to simulate them instead."

Shin nodded, observing the panda as he demonstrated the technique. Shin could see his temperature go down as his bodily functions slowed down and he stopped breathing.

After practicing for the bit, the duo moved on to the 2nd technique, "This Technique is called the fleeting steps. You are already able to quickly move through trees and run on water but with this technique, you can use chi to lighten your body. "Light as the wind, moving through the tree leaves."" The panda spoke with wisdom.

"The last technique is called the "Breath of the world". You hide within the world, becoming one with it. And with all three…" Shin watched as Lao disappeared from his sight. Shin looked at the place that the old panda had just occupied but only saw a small amount of chakra as it moved through the chakra network. He deactivated the sharingan and saw Lao standing still, looking at him with a smile on his furry face.

"H-how!?" Shin could clearly see him but his eyes couldn't convince his mind, his mind, his instincts kept telling him that what he was seeing was an illusion yet his eyes saw the panda right in front of him.

Lao smiled widely as his presence returned, "Just as you can use illusion and convince your opponents that what they see is the truth… With chi, you can convince the world that you are a part of it. This state of being one with the universe is what allows me to stand in a crowd full of people yet remain unnoticed. Afterall, who would notice just another tree in a forest full of them?"

Time passed and the 3 month deadline was coming closer and closer. Shin had mastered the first two techniques that Lao had taught him but the third technique remained a mystery to him. "Surrender yourself to the current." Lao advised him whenever Shin meditated, yet he was nowhere closer to mastering that technique.

This caused Shin to take drastic measures; he disguised himself as a cat and went around the village, simply waltzing into every clan compound and watching as the young clan members were taught the clan secret techniques. He had learned techniques from the Yamanaka clan, Akimichi clan and his most prized gain; the shadow manipulation techniques of the Nara clan.

Using the Nara clan's shadow manipulation techniques as a substitute, Shin was able to sneak into the Hokage residence and simply copy the entire thing with his sharingan. The scroll was heavily protected with many advanced fuinjutsu seals around the house but just like with various clans in the village, there was no seal that Shin couldn't bypass.

There were seals that required certain bloodlines to pass through, such as the Nara clan but Shin already had the blood of every single clan in Konoha except the Hyuga clan. As for the other barrier techniques, Shin was able to plan an appropriate "distraction" when he went for the scroll of seals.

Just after meeting Lao, Shin had returned to the sealing corps. His main focus was simply the various summoning techniques. He wanted to create an interdimensional reverse summoning contract that, with the help of Assal and the interdimensional energy on Lao, would allow them to travel to Lao's world without getting shot into the void.

So Shin simply summoned a giant white snake using his shadow clone and waited for nearly the entire ninja population to wake up. After that, Shin's other shadow clone created another distraction at the dam that provided the entire village with electricity. The countless explosion tags came in hand as his Shadow clones went around blowing stuff up.

While the entire village was distracted,Shin was quickly scanning the entire scroll and the more he read, the more he was shocked; the scroll contained numerous forbidden jutsus such as the Flying thunder god, the in-complete edo-tensei and other various clan techniques, including techniques that were more akin to sacrifice and magic then the ninjutsu he was familiar with. There were even details of body modifications using transplantation of different body parts.

Shin felt sick that such techniques existed and also realized that there was a very good reason why only the Hokage was allowed to read this scroll. "Huh?" he just felt a shadow clone pop and memories flooded him. A group of Anbu were getting close, he had what he wanted so he escaped the place after leaving before a small explosive trap.

*BOOM*

The Hokage residence went up in flames as the entire village watched on in terror. The boy responsible for the whole ordeal was however deep underground in a room covered with numerous seals written in a mix of languages. "You're back already?" the old panda asked him as he activated the countless barriers around the place, "They got to me faster then I had expected, nonetheless I got what I needed."

For the next month, Shin would decipher and re-create the various space-time ninjutsu such as the flying thunder god and apply it all to his personalized interdimensional reverse summoning contract seal.

Shin unfurled several scrolls and laid out the contract seal with Lao seated in the middle. "This is going to be very taxing on my body, so just keep focused and pour in everything you got and try to remember each and every detail of your life. We have just 1 shot at this and we can't afford any mishaps!"

Shin took off his shirt and there was a word inked onto his belly, "Store". If one looked closely, they would see that the word was entirely made up of countless smaller words. Shin took in a deep breath and let it out as he activated his Mangekyu Sharingan. 'Assal, how much chakra have I sorted?'

[200 Points of Chakra have been stored.

Warning: Undoing the seal will diminish your life force by 1 point permanently.

Warning: There is only a 45% chance of success.

Warning: You may not be able to return to this world.]

'Comon, live a little will you! I have reached level 10 in chi so I have 100 points to burn and if we fail, just everything and return me to my realm. That would work right?'

[Yes.]

"Let's begin!" Shin spoke as Lao nodded, "Alright!"

The seal in Shin's belly became undone as Chakra overflowed in his body and then to the seals on the ground as they started to list from the scrolls and float in the air.

Lao also started to glow golden as he injected his chi into the specialized seals that worked as a converter so Lao's chi could be used as an alternative source of energy.

[Accessing Target Lao's memories.

Locating interdimensional coordinates.

Opening interdimensional gateway.]

The world started to break away as darkness emerged from the cracks and swallowed them whole.

[Bridging.

[Bridging complete.

Initiating transfer.]

Everything faded with a loud "MEOW! >w<" as the trio found themselves traveling through a dark corridor with the occasional multi-colored light that Shin barely caught a glimpse of and realized were actually small distant worlds.

*BHOOM*

A loud explosion knocked the air out of them as a bright light assaulted them.

[Transfer success.

Chances of reaching the right world: 96%]

......

"Do we know what happened?"

"Just who could have done this?"

"Could it have been someone from Kumo?"

"Don't be foolish, didn't you see the snake? It was clearly Ooruchimaru's doing!"

"Whoever it was, just what was their objective?"

*Thk thk*

The room quieted down as all eyes turned to the old man seated on the chair, emptying the smoking pipe. The entire room watched in silence as the old man casually filled the pipe with more smoking tobacco in silence.

*Swish*

A masked man appeared behind the old man, whispering before backing away. The old man let out a tired sigh as he looked up at the room full of questioning ninjas. "It seems our village has lost yet another promising young shinobi."

"Shikaku, gather a team and dispatch them immediately to bring him back…though knowing him, it might prove a futile endeavor."

The man with a scar on his face and a spiky ponytail looked at the old man with confusion and asked the question that many others wanted to ask, "Who do you mean Lord Hokage?"

Hiruzen took a long puff and exhaled a cloud of smoke as he spoke with a solemn expression, "Shin Hirano." His words started a murmur or arguments before a loud voice drowned every other voice, "Impossible! I have interacted with the boy before, He has never shown any signs of betraying the village!" a blonde man with longhair tied into a ponytail spoke up.

Hiruzen looked at the man and nodded, "It's true that the boy has never shown any ill-will against the village, in fact the recent attack is the biggest argument for him." the old man looked at the ninjas gathered when Shikaku nodded and spoke up, "That's true; he attacked many key places yet not even a single person was fatally wounded and the damage to the infrastructure was minor and easily repairable."

"You can't be serious lord Hokage! He blew up the Hokage residence! Your grandson was there!" a hot blooded jonin refuted but the old man simply shook his head, "And yet there was not a single bruise on him even after half the house had blown up." His words were convincing but some remained skeptical, the recent betrayal of Itach who was a friend of Shini, the massacre of the Uchiha clan with whom he had a close connection, the death of Fujio Hatake his sensei and the death of Atsuki at the hands of Shin himself.

Looking at all these facts along with his recent attacks, the jonin could be forgiven for doubting him. Hiruzen however remained convinced that the boy held no animosity against the village. "No matter what, he still has to be brought in for questioning. He most likely read the scroll of seals, that alone makes him a danger. Not to mention his extensive knowledge of the village and the barrier corp, we can't let the secrets fall into the hands of our enemies." Shakaku spoke up, gaining the acknowledgement from his fellow jonins.

"That is true, it will not be an easy task but it is a necessary one." Hiruzen nodded and the group started to discuss the team members, Kakashi volunteered to participate and was appointed as the team leader.

The team searched the whole country, even employing the hunter ninjas of the Aburame and Inuzuka clans but there was no sign of the boy. In the end the village had no choice but to declare him a missing nin and Shin Hirano entered the Bingo book as a B-rank bounty of 5 million ryo.