บท 20: Chapter 20
I was staring at the purple rhombus-shaped seal on my forehead.
Using Kushina's bucket analogy.
The Strength Of A Hundred Seal is like a bucket.
You fill it with your excess Chakra when you aren't using it and pour it out when you need it.
Pouring it out doesn't break the bucket, it only empties it.
It was a lovely seal.
But it also stuck out on my forehead like a sore thumb.
I had to cover it.
Either with my hair or forehead protector.
Though…
At least there was no caged bird seal on my forehead…
...
Hehehehe…
I couldn't stop myself and giggled like a little girl.
I couldn't describe the amount of joy I was feeling.
This seal made surviving so much easier.
The reason most high-level ninjas die is that they run out of chakra.
With my new seal that was now somewhat unlikely.
With my healing factor I was near inexhaustible and extremely hard to kill.
I started to do a little dance, my joy couldn't be contained.
…
My mother of course chose that moment to stick her head in.
I saw her, stopped dancing, then made eye contact.
Awkward...
…
But not awkward enough to extinguish my joy.
I extended a hand.
"Dance with me!"
…
She promptly disappeared faster then I could see, demonstrating why she was considered a Jonin.
Fine…
I didn't need any company anyways.
I resumed my dance…
…
Aright that's enough.
I stopped dancing and returned to the mirror.
Having my chakra running free in my body made me feel giddy.
I couldn't stop smiling.
Finally, life would speed up again and things were looking good.
…
I spent a week getting back into the swing of things.
I was once again using chakra strings as much as possible and sending any extra chakra I had into my seal before I went to bed.
I figured that whenever I had the opportunity, I should exhaust my chakra by storing it all in the seal before I go to bed.
So that's what I did almost every day before I went to bed.
Today was different though.
Mom and I had applied for the apprenticeship, now all we needed was approval from the Hokage.
That would hopefully come with some political pressure from the Hyuga Elders.
They had wanted me with Tokuma, so maybe they would settle for my mother instead.
The Elders haven't caused me problems yet.
Though who knew, they could use this opportunity to annoy me.
…
Anyway, we were eating at a restaurant to celebrate my success with the seal.
I would have rather done it at home, but mom looked excited at the idea of eating out so I let it be.
I now regretted that decision as seated two tables away from us was Minato and Kakashi.
And they had noticed us.
I turned my head pretending I didn't see anything, hoping they would do the same.
…
They, of course, did not, Kakashi and Minato approached our table.
"Shiro! It's been a while."
Oh boy…
Conversation…
"Yes, it has."
Minato and Kakashi looked the same as when I had last seen them.
I jutted my thumb towards my mom.
"This is my mom, Sumiko Hyuga."
She nodded.
"Mom, these are my ex-teammates, Kakashi and Minato."
Minato returned the nod.
…
Things were quiet after the introduction, I had no plans on making small talk so I stayed quiet hoping this awkwardness would hasten their departure.
…
Minato broke the silence.
"So, what have you been up-to Shiro?
He probably wanted to know about my progress on my seal.
"Oh, I've just been reading and practicing my Taijutsu."
And training with Gai as well.
"How far are you along on the Strength Of A Hundred Seal?"
Minato usually wasn't this blunt.
"I've completed it."
Minato looked impressed.
"That's quite the feat."
Thanks?
"Yes, it was quite hard, I understand why more people don't learn the seal."
No need for modesty here…
I am awesome after all…
"Hmm… what are your plans for the future?"
To become immortal, awaken the Tenseigan, and possibly leave this universe.
"I'm going to apprentice under my mother."
Hopefully…
"Hmm… well good luck Shiro, we'll not disturb your meal further."
I wish you hadn't disturbed my meal at all…
…
I had spent a week trying to create the Rasengan.
Though my Rasengan creation time was cut short when news came that my apprenticeship was approved.
Now I would be doing missions and training under my mother.
Which sounded fun, as I was tired of escorting merchants and guarding nobles and rich folk.
That seemed to be all I did with Minato.
…
I was waiting in the kitchen for my mother to pick-up our first mission together.
I had declined to go to the Hokage tower in favor of getting fifteen more minutes of Rasengan practice.
I was so close I could taste it…
Wait…
Clones…
Right…
I sent two clones off to the third training grounds to practice.
I think I'll have the Rasengan down sometime today.
…
My mom arrived with the mission scroll.
"Today we're doing a B-ranked mission, we're hunting a Kiri missing-nin by the name of Satow Mitsuharu, otherwise known as Hidden mist Satow."
I raised an eyebrow.
"A B-ranked mission right away?"
I was alright with it, but I wanted to hear her thoughts.
"There's no need to waste time chasing academy drop-outs, I'm doing this so you can get some experience."
Alright…
"How strong is he? And why does he have a cool nickname?"
I wanted a cool nickname…
"He's high-Chunin level and uses the Hidden Mist Jutsu to hide from opponents."
So, Satow of the hidden mist because he uses the Hidden Mist Jutsu…
So, we were sent because of our Byakugan?
Nice…
"Alrighty where are we headed today?"
Hopefully it wouldn't be a long trip…
"We're headed to Nagi Island."
Fuck! I jinxed myself!
That was even further than the land of tea!
This was at minimum a seven-day mission…
…
We were packed and ready to go.
The only change to my usual packing was some chakra restraints and a seal that kept your target unconscious.
We were supposed to capture the run-away and bring him in alive for interrogation and the most bounty money.
Of course, we were supposed to do it before any mist hunter-nin got him.
I'm not sure I like the sound of this mission.
I think I would have preferred chasing some academy graduates
I dispersed my clones as I left the house.
They didn't complete the Rasengan…
Whatever.
…
We were three days into our trip and we were about to reach the border of The Land Of Noodles.
"So, how are we getting to Nagi Island?"
I hoped we weren't water walking there…
"We are traveling east through The Land Of Noodles and then we'll take a boat from Noodles to Nagi Island."
Fuck that was close to Kiri.
"Why are we getting so close to Kiri?"
I was starting to get a little anxious.
There was a good chance we would run into Kiri ninja that weren't our target.
"It's the shortest root and I want you to fight any Kiri ninja we encounter."
Well… I didn't want to fight any Kiri ninja we encounter…
"If we fight them we can't let them live then… I don't want a bounty yet…"
My mom snorted at me.
"A bounty is exactly what you need."
I didn't agree but didn't say anything.
I'd rather hear her explanation first.
"It's a good opportunity to establish yourself as valuable to the village and maybe get your lab."
But also, a good opportunity for some Kiri-nin to bathe in my blood.
I sighed.
I didn't want to a bounty yet.
But I trusted my mom's experience and wisdom.
So, I changed the subject.
"What's the range of your Byakugan?"
She blinked at the abrupt change in topic but answered regardless.
"Around five kilometers."
What?
Holy shit!
"How did you increase your range so much?"
My range was currently at around two-hundred meters.
Meaning she had around twenty-five times the range I currently had.
"The more you use the Byakugan the more range you have access to, range varies between people, though most Byakugan users' range doesn't go beyond one kilometer."
I was proud of my measly 200 meters when my mom had a range that I couldn't even imagine.
And a kilometer was probably my future limit.
Unless I could run some scans on some Hyugas to figure out what made their range so much better.
I side-eyed my mom.
I had an ideal subject.
"How do you feel about letting me scan your Byakugan?"
I wondered what made her Byakugan so different from mine.
"I'm fine with it as long as it's just a scan."
Meaning don't mess with my Byakugan and you can scan it.
Nice.
"Thanks mom."
…
We were well into Noodle Country and looking for a boat to board.
Mom was using her Byakugan to look and I was twiddling my thumbs and feeling rather useless.
After a few minutes of looking my mom found one.
"Alright follow me, we're going to sneak onto a ship."
We're not paying?
Alrighty.
…
We were hiding in a crew member's room on the ship.
I figured we'd hide and be sneaky.
But no mom just put the guy in a Genjutsu and took over his room.
…
The guy who's room we took was hard at work, I was using my Byakugan to look at how the Genjutsu was affecting his brain.
A lot was going on in his brain.
I couldn't believe a few hand-seals could affect the brain like this…
I decided that I'd look into it another day.
I deactivated my Byakugan and settled in for a half a day-long trip.
…
Eventually we got close to Nagi Island.
Mom and I ran the rest of the way to the island to avoid getting spotted at the port.
…
We were now on land.
Now, all we had to do was find this guy.
"Mom do you have a picture of the guy?"
She nodded, reached into her pack, and pulled out a bingo book.
After flipping through it for a few seconds she handed it to me.
The man had brown hair and eyes, the only thing of note was his height at 187cm.
He was a water release user as well.
"So where are we looking?"
I hoped we didn't have to search the whole island for him.
"To the south there's a small separate fifty-kilometer-wide island, that's we're were going to search for Satow."
Nice.
…
It took the rest of the day to get to the "small" island.
Which didn't feel small now that I was standing on it.
"So, what now?"
Do we split-up and search the island?
"Stick with me, I'll look for our target and you'll engage."
So, look pretty and wait for my turn?
Sounds good…
…
It had turned dark in the time it took us to find our target.
We got closer so I could watch him from within my Byakugan's range.
He was seated at a fire and cooking some meat, likely his meal.
His face looked just like his bingo book and notably he had the physique of a newborn giraffe.
Lanky and tall…
I was about 120cm to his 187cm.
So, take out the legs and then disable him?
Yep.
That's the plan.
…
Plan made, I activated Chikaku no kyōka, deactivated my gravity seal, and slowed my perception slightly.
I started making my way towards him, I took note that he had some explosive notes in his pouch.
I focused on my pouch.
It just so happened that I lacked explosive notes.
How kind of Satow to bring some.
…
I was about a hundred meters from Satow when he abruptly turned and looked directly at me.
I blinked in surprise.
There was no way he saw me through the trees.
So, he's probably a sensor.
Satow ran through three hand-signs and shouted.
"Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique"
He proceeded to blow a thick mist from his mouth.
Alrighty…
I continued my approach while keeping an eye on Satow and Jumped directly into the mist.
"Fool! You've jumped directly into my trap!"
I didn't say anything, I just got into a stance and continued to watch him as he circled.
Eventually he got within ten meters and shouted.
"Water Release: Mouth Shot"
I heard his voice come from behind, even though I could see Satow in front of me.
Neat.
I watched a senbon shaped needle of water form on his mouth, which he launched directly at my head.
I sidestepped it and waited for his next move.
Satow continued circling and started to shot another water senbon at my back.
"Water Release: Mouth Shot"
As soon as the water senbon left his mouth I Shunshined behind him, sending a kick to the back of his knee.
Satow dodged and jumped away to create some distance.
I however was not having it and stuck to Satow like glue sending repeated kicks at his legs.
Satow seeing that he couldn't disappear into the mist brought out a kunai and turned to engage me.
"Die kid!"
I brought out one of my kunai and we engaged in a clash of blades.
We clashed a few more times before I palmed a second kunai and tossed it at his gut.
He sidestepped the kunai and I took the time to Shunshin to him while aiming a One For All enhanced kick at his knee.
Satow tried to block my kick with his own.
That was a mistake.
Crack*
"Fuuuuuck!"
He toppled over and tried to drag himself backwards using his arms.
Another Shunshin and a punch to the back of his head and he was down for the count.
I jabbed him in the elbows with some Gentle Fist strikes just to be sure.
And the fight was over, I quickly scanned my surroundings before deactivating Chikaku no kyōka and my Byakugan.
I blew a breath out of my mouth and smiled.
I enjoyed that fight.
I grabbed the chakra restraints and put them onto his wrists before slapping the sleeping seal onto his forehead.
Job done, I started to pilfer his kunai pouch for those explosive seals.
…
I turned around and saw my mother leaning against a tree giving me a touch of a smile.
"What?"
Her smile widened a bit.
"It's fine if you steal from a defeated enemy just don't steal from the dead."
I wish I had known that earlier.
Perhaps that was another reason Minato didn't like me.
"Ok."
My mother picked up Satow, threw him over her shoulder, and started making her way to his camp where I figured we'd stay for the night.
…
We arrived at the camp, I took the slightly burnt meat from the fire and took a bite.
Hmmm, rabbit…
"Want some?"
I waved the skewered meat at my mother.
"Yes please."
Satow was set against a tree, and my mother joined me at the fire.
I snapped the makeshift skewer in half and gave my mother the bigger half.
We both sat and enjoyed our meal.
…
"Shiro."
What?
"Hmmm?"
My mother bit her lip before responding.
"I don't know how to say it nicely but you need to improve your Gentle Fist."
I wouldn't know how to say it nicely either.
"No worries. How should I improve it? I'm doing exactly what Tokuma taught me."
I burnt it into my mind with Kokoro no kyōka so it was exactly as I was taught.
"Skilled Gentle Fist users can disable their chakra flow by hitting their Tenketsu, I only saw you using the Gentle Fist to destroy his muscles."
That was the point…?
"I can hit the Tenketsu, but I only go for them when I'm using one of the Eight Trigrams techniques."
Hitting Tenketsu was only useful when done more than a few times, and it was far easier to cripple my opponent so I usually didn't bother with trying to hit their Tenkutsu.
"Well… don't cripple your opponent when there already down, it makes you look cruel."
What's it matter if he's crippled? He's a dead man walking…
"Alright."
So, don't steal from the dead or cripple already downed opponents.
I'm learning a lot on this mission.
…
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