章 20: Goddess of War

Eio's blood raced along his veins and arteries as a dull sound echoed from his chest every now and then. Today, he had specifically closed his bedroom's door to remain undisturbed during performing this particular jutsu. His upper body covered in violet pattern, making his looks comparable to the savages of the ancient era that painted their own body. Inside his body, his chakra and the nature energy subconsciously gathered continuously fused together to form Sage Chakra while his Ki revolved around his body, completely undisturbed.

Biting the tip of his thumb, Eio traced his blood along his chest in a strange seal. Taking a deep breath and preparing for the pain, Eio covered his hands with his Sage Chakra and immediately performed a series of well-practised hand seals and immediately covered the bloodied seal on his chest with his left palm.

"Senjutsu: Spirit Partition!"

Ths technique and the consequences of using this particular Senjutsu was covered in the second part of the scroll that Eio had managed to find on that fateful day. The scroll opened the discussion by describing chakra beasts and how the 9 strongest chakra beasts came to existence. While Eio couldn't make much of that historical fact as the required details were not mentioned, he did know that the benefits of having a chakra beast were many.

High resistance and increased physical ability. Qualitative transformation to one's senses. Thicker chakra coils and even increased reserves of Chakra. Most importantly, in the world of Shinobi where one cannot decrease their caution, they can finally find a good partner.

But the disadvantages of the technique were glaring enough for Eio to reconsider his options until he became confident enough. The newly created partner inside of him would be completely innocent. That means that this new partner would look up to him and copy his own emotions. So, at this growing stage of the chakra beast inside of him, it is imperative to suppress the negative emotions to keep the chakra beast away from getting infected.

The meaning of that passage was simple. It would be good for Eio if he waited long enough before he used this technique. After all, in front of his parents, he was still a kid that can quickly get emotional. Such a mentality would be more harmful to the growing existence within him. But only Eio knew that he was a seasoned warrior and even then, he could not claim enough confidence that his chakra beast wouldn't get affected by his emotions.

As Eio thought of all the scenarios where he could lose control of his chakra beast, he felt that one of his parents was a jinchuriki, too. The sudden realisation finally broke all the hesitation as he started training for this technique. Unknown to Ryu, little Eio had already started light body training alongside the designated stretches.

The moment his senjutsu was implemented on his body, he didn't feel any pain... no, instead, he felt as is a burden pressing onto him, at least, internally, was lifted off. Instead of pain, he felt refreshed and relieved. But that moment of refreshment was immediately destroyed when he heard a mischievous laugh in echoing in his mind. Eio's eyes snapped open and he looked at his chest, the bloodied seal already merked on his chest akin to a scar.

"Yo! I didn't think that this planet had what it took to remove my bindings! Kudos!"

The voice spoke once again as Eio closed his eyes, and focused on his seal, as described in the scroll. Immediately, he found his figure... mental image, surrounded by a beautiful garden. In front of him, laying lazily on a long swing was a curvaceous figure sporting spiky green hair. Her turquoise-blue eyes reminded him of the special characteristics of super-saiyans while her red, body-tight sweats didn't make it easy on Eio's eyes.

Gazing at Eio's frowning face, the figure raised her hands and spoke with a foolish grin.

"Yo! Name's Kefla, the Goddess of War, who saved your ghostly ass out of that timeline!

Of course, I came along. Either way, nice to meet you, partner!"

Eio closed his eyes and immediately broke the connection with the seal. Standing up from his bed, he changed his clothes and went out for a good jog. After all, a person should jog in a beautiful early morning instead of dealing with unknown existence inside your body, claiming to be a goddess and your saviour.

Honestly, Eio would have believed her in a heartbeat if not for her lazy demonstration.

"Hey! Did you just ignore your own saviour?! Oh, come on! We are partners now! Bound together by fate and whatnot!"

Ignoring the pleas echoing in his mind, Eio jogged for half-an-hour to refresh and calm his mind.

***

"Let's assume that you did save me—"

"Why assume? It's a fact!" Kefla stood up from her swing and shouted.

"For now, we will assume... for the sake of discussion." Eio spoke out. He had once again returned to face this figure, who appeared after that senjutsu instead of a Chakra Beast. Gazing at her figure... she was definitely a beast... but not in a way that a child should assume.

"Why save me? There are many warriors better than me. My dad, Vegeta and if we disregard the strength factor, there are many disciplined warriors like Picollo or even Master Roshi."

Nodding, Kefla gazed at Eio before her spiky hair fell down and turned black. Even though her hair tied into a short ponytail still looked unruly, at least, they didn't fly off her head.

"I am a Goddess of War... a saiyan. So, when the timeline was going to collapse, I, alongside some other recent Gods didn't wish to succumb to such a demise and decided to flee from that timeline." Kefla took a moment before reorganizing her words.

"You see, whenever a mortal ascends to godhood, they are restricted to their own timeline, something, that should have also been placed upon that blue-headed bimbo and that purple-haired disgrace of a saiyan."

"This conversation is over."

Eio spoke with a frown while Kefla, who was still stunned by the sudden outburst, failed to stop Eio, who had already disappeared.

***

As Eio opened his eyes, he ignored Kefla's unruly cries and even went as far as consciously cutting off the connection with the seal, making him unable to hear her at all. With a frustrated sigh, Eio started to check on his condition. If his senjutsu succeeded, then it meant that Goddess or not, Kefla had unknowingly become his chakra... partner. Then this meant that slowly, he should be able to tap into chakra generated by Kefla and toughen his own chakra coils and slowly increase his physical strength.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Eio, are you free for a moment?" Asuka's voice came from the other side of the door as Eio immediately stood up and opened the door.

"No, mom."

He smiled. Since it was only 9 a.m., Asuka had just gotten up while Ryu had already left for his duty 1 hour earlier than Eio going out for a jog. Smiling, Asuka entered the room and carefully regarded some parts of Eio's room from the corner of her eyes.

"Eio-chan... I think we should talk a little." Asuka sat on his bed and patted the region beside her to let Eio sit next to her. Naturally, he sat down and looked at Asuka with a curious expression.

"You have grown a lot, I have seen you smile when you play with your friends and I have seen you sweat when you train." Perplexed at how his mom could see him during his training, Eio waited for Asuka to finish her words.

"From tomorrow, you will be entering the academy. That's a new phase of your life. Something that you will cherish for your entire life. But there are many things that you should note." Asuka's tone took a grim turn while she continued.

"I want to talk about some of your friends... actually all of them. You see, in this world, there is something known as Kekkei Genkai. Your friend, Uzumaki Naruto possess a Kekkei Genkai that allows him unnatural chakra reserves. Uchiha Sasuke's Kekkei Genkai allows him to possess a strong dojutsu called Sharingan.

Similarly, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Nara Shikamaru and even Hyuuga Hinata possess a Kekkei Genkai."

Eio nodded and voiced his own opinion.

"I know that mom, Naruto, Sasuke and that Kiba all like to brag. Sasuke even compared his Kekkei Genkai to other's, including Hinata's, and spoke that Uchiha's are the best. Personally, I think that he was being immature."

'You all are a bunch of eight-year-olds, being immature is your work.' Asuke groaned internally but continued nonetheless.

"But the thing is that your father and I believe that just like your friends, you also possess a Kekkei Genkai..." She trailed her words while Eio took a moment before digesting her words without any display of shocked expression. Seeing his 'mature' reaction, Asuka felt disgruntled, which made her look more immature than her own 8 years old son and she decided to show one of her Kekkei Genkais.

Nerves popped near the edges of her eyes while her dark eyes turned pupilless, pale white. However, her smirk immediately receded when Eio frowned at her. His violet eyes showing signs of turning pale as he concentrated even more. Through her byakugan, Asuka could see that Eio was concentrating his chakra on his eyes.

"Alright, alright! I still haven't taught you anything! Don't you go hurting your eyes, now!"

Asuka shouted, her voice laced with panic as she immediately stopped Eio's attempts while his eyes were almost pale. With an exhausted sigh, Eio frowned and looked at Asuka.

"Mom... that was harder than I thought. But before that, does this mean that Hinata is my cousin?"

Asuka seriously considered his question before shaking her head.

"Not even remotely. Even by blood, you are far better than the Hyuugas. And no, the Hyuugas aren't the only one who possess byakugan. And no, my surname is not Hyuuga." Before Eio could ask further, Asuka shook her head and stopped him from asking more.

"At this moment, you won't fare better if you ask more. Just listen. First, you do possess a byakugan, just like you showed me... which was quite unexpected. But this isn't your Kekkei Genkai I was talking about. Although, at this moment, I should be talking about your newfound Byakugan."

Asuka realised happily that instead of Ryu's eyes, Eio awakened her byakugan. Looking at Eio's face with a joyful expression, Asuka started to explain everything about Byakugan while she cautioned him more that one time that the fact he possesses byakugan shouldn't be made public, something that Eio understood the first time. But even when they chatted, Eio did not let out a single point of his own training, much to Asuka's gratification.

***

After Ryu returned at night, he found his wife waiting for him as she smiled smugly at his tired face, much to Ryu's annoyance.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing... just that, Eio activated his Byakugan... almost."

She replied nonchalantly and stood up from her chair, making her way towards her bedroom while Ryu rubbed his eyebrows in annoyance.

"I get it, now tell me everything."

He took his seat while Asuka returned and explained everything with a smile.

"Are you sure he did not speak a single thing about my inheritance?"

"Yeah." Asuka nodded as Ryu sighed once again.

"You shouldn't have made it easier for him to find his own Byakugan. He can find one of your training scrolls quicker than expected time due to your interference."

"You are being too harsh with this condition. If he can manifest Byakugan, this means that he may possibly inherit more from me than you. And, do you really think that he should be actually training without the proper guidance of his own parents?"

Asuka questioned as she finally whispered softly.

"Today... I only went inside his room because I felt another presence inside him... he has finally used that jutsu and I am against your decision for letting him controlling his chakra beast alone."

Ryu's eyes finally flared and he glared at Asuka.

"No, you aren't. These are my clan's tradition. Don't you get that?"

Asuka's eyes narrowed at his words as she whispered with a sad smile.

"One day, a man-made me realise that traditions... are man-made. They can be created as easily as they can be broken.

You just have to realise what is important in your life." Her smile turned even more miserable as her whispers shook Ryu's heart, who finally started to question his own methods.

"That day, that kind prince freed me of my fate. I wonder where he got lost during all the tribulations we faced together."

Asuka finally got up and left while Ryu simply remained on his seat. His gaze focused on the empty air in front of him as he recalled the days where Asuka was the stuck-up princess and needed to feel emotions.

'Maybe... no... I am being a hypocrite all this time...'

He sighed sadly and looked towards Eio's bedroom.

***

The next day, Eio was woken up earlier than his regular schedule as he found a grinning Ryu in front of him.

"Ready for your second session of training?"

Eio looked at Ryu, perplexed that his father hadn't slept for the whole night and finally lost himself. Training? Him? After that one session of training, Ryu did not bother with his past time at all. While they still laughed at the dining table, that was it. Unlike other parents, Ryu did not keep a check on his abilities.

"Uh..."

"From today, you will be attending your academy. I think that it is a highpoint that we start your training."

He spoke with a smile that left no room of refusal for Eio.