Chapter 9: The Chakra Miser
Mikoto looked around with an amused smile. Her injuries were fully healed by the fabled widow of the God of Shinobi and now looked around Kushina's room. The redhead had invited her here, of course. And looked nervous as hell for that.
"Next time, I will invite you to my clan compound. My father will be thrilled to meet you and Kai."
Kushina nodded as Mikoto sat beside the girl on her mattress and looked at her inquisitively. Unlike what Mikoto had expected, Kushina's room was slightly plain. But whatever she had belonged to a level of quality unaffordable by the masses.
"Um... I called you because... I want to study!" Kushina exclaimed.
"Why don't you study in the academy?" Mikoto giggled as Kushina blanched and pouted, "Don't wanna! Anyway... help me study. I want to graduate the next year..."
"Why not ask Kai-chan?" Mikoto narrowed her eyes, as if gazing at a juicy prey but unaware of it, Kushina plopped back on her bed and groaned, "It's a surprise! If he asks, we'll say were practicing our clan ninjutsu against one another—"
"Or we could just say that we were training taijutsu. I don't think my clan would take it kindly if such rumors got out," Mikoto shook her head sensibly and Kushina nodded, "Fine, that. Now help me study!"
---
"Hmm," Mito had a smirk over her aged face as she enjoyed Kai's young hands on her feet and spoke up, "Ah, I missed this, Kai-kun. But I didn't ask you here just to get my massage. Yesterday, you became one of our own and I would like to teach you and assess your talent in my clan's specialty: Fuinjutsu. Do you know what that is?"
"Yes, Mistress—"
"From now on, Grandma Mito or Mito-sama will be fine," Mito interrupted as Kai shrugged and nodded, "Yes, Mito-sama. Fuinjutsu is the sub-category of Ninjutsu that deals in utilizing seals to perform various actions but most notably sealing items into another."
Mito nodded with a pleased hum, of course, not from the reply but due to Kai pressing her sweet spots, and added, "Today onwards, I will be taking your time after the Academy so being punctual is important. Of course, I understand that a student must have free time so my training, at least for now, will be somewhat lenient."
Kai nodded, a little eager. There were still a few concepts too advanced and a little too leashed in for his taste. Fuinjutsu was one of them. Their theory classes already told them how seals can create exploding tags and whatnot but they didn't really tell them HOW it's done. So, a chance at Fuinjutsu felt amazing to him!
And then, Mito stretched her hand in a manner similar to the seal of confrontation and a small puff of smoke appeared in front of her, revealing a palm-sized thick bamboo scroll. This made Kai recall how he just used his sleight of hand to make that Gem of Kalin appear in his hands... good times.
"This is the basics of Fuinjutsu. I remember idly teaching you the sealing language so you can decipher it... no, in fact, you must decipher it because I taught you sealing language. You are only allowed to ask 3 doubts and if you don't decipher it by tomorrow, I'll have a punishment ready for you."
Kai nodded while looking at the quest.
[Clan Quest: Carrot and Stick
Summary: To assess your talent unlike any other, Mito wishes to see your ability to decipher the basic fuinjutsu practice of the Uzumaki Clan. Surprise her or disappoint her, consequences are yours to bear.
Rewards: 5 SP
Failure: Indefinite Bamboo Spanking]
Alright... THAT had his attention.
"You will stay here and decipher the scroll in silence, alright? Come, you can sit next to this old woman." Mito smiled.
"Mito-sama, you're hardly THAT old," Kai gave a cheeky response while climbing the bed and sitting next to her. She only snorted at his response and smiled before closing her eyes while he unfurled the scroll.
"Oh, yes. I can see it. A human drama formed between the two of you... grrrhhh! Let's call it the Beauty and the Beast. Wanna which role you play, Dry Cunt?" The familiar snarky grumble made Mito's brows twitch but she knew better than to respond every time.
Meanwhile, Kai looked at the second slot of temporary skill out of five being filled.
[Basic Uzumaki Fuinjutsu (1/10): Use the special chakra ink and form seals that perform special actions. Reduces the chakra consumption of forming a single kanji seal by 5℅. Chakra Consumed: 10.
Next Level: Ink 0/8 functional seals or 2 SP.]
It only needed a few seconds of deciphering the scroll before the skill was formed and relevant information invaded his mind and allowed him to quickly decipher the rest of it and he was honestly amazed... seals and fuinjutsu were just a more magical cousin of the summation of maths, geometry, back-breaking physics and whatnot! If it's a horrible subject, it's a part of seals!
"Mito-sama, I'm done!" Kai smiled as the woman opened her eyes and gave a tony exasperated sigh, "No, child. You have to read and try deciphering it for at least three hours and then you can have your fun later."
"Bitch, he said—" she cut off the connection and grimaced as Kai incidentally finished what the grumbling voice spoke, "— I'm done deciphering it thoroughly!"
Mito blinked.
Her eyes, for the first time, grew somewhat owlish as she stared at Kai for a full minute before remarking seriously, "Are you sure?"
"I am. You can ask me from the Seal of Fire to the Seal of Land," Kai smiled, conveniently stating the first and the last seal on the scroll as Mito suddenly began to chuckle softly.
"Go... ask someone to bring me a stack of chakra paper and ink."
She had her own storage but she would be damned if her top-quality stuff was used on training. Kai left with an eager bounce in his steps and when he left, Mito pumped her fist in a manner so excitable that it was unbecoming of her age!
'Heck yeah! Fucking hell!' Mito grinned, 'Got a gem right here! Even back in the clan, only Kushina has a brain and bloodline hardwired to Fuinjutsu in a manner that made her decipher this 30 minutes, and my old man and I had around the same score... too bad his chakra capacity is a bit limiting,' Mito sighed a little internally. But she was sure if nurtured properly, even with average reserves, the boy could prove just are too valuable to be left at the likes of Hiruzen or his brooding boy toy.
Needless to say, Kai was more excited than Mito since he completed the quest, and finding a proper backer was already proving useful. Instead of finding materials to train the fuinjutsu in himself, Mito can help out with most resources!
---
Kai... thrived in the grind. But Kushina, much less the Inuzuka who began following him like a pup, found their lives drained. It was a good thing, though. It motivated them to graduate as quickly as possible and the month's grind in the academy had the most positive effects on Kai not only to the numbers that only served to the pump the addictive dopamine but also because he felt stronger... and bigger.
[Physique stat reached a threshold. Physique growth markedly improved.]
[Reduce the consumption of all stamina-based skills by a 10℅ and increased stamina regeneration by 10 times.]
[Perception stat reached a threshold. Meta-physical sensing markedly improved.]
[Increase the rate of chakra regeneration by 5 times.]
{A/N: This is five times the base which was 3 and the percentage is added on top of the base.}
[Skill formed due to specific action.]
[Chakra Sensing (7/25): Every Chakra has a unique signature that is hard to identify by others. Increases the Perception stat by 1 every level. Increases the rate of chakra recovery by 5℅. Chakra Consumption: 30/min.
Next Level: Register 127/2000 additional chakra signature or 2 SP.]
[Basic Chakra Enhancement (10/10): Flows chakra into the limbs and body that increases the body's attributes greatly. Every level increases the temporary rise in strength by 10℅. Increases the physical stat by 1 each level. Reduces chakra cost by 3℅ every level. Current Chakra Consumption: 84/sec.]
[Basic Uzumaki Fuinjutsu (10/10): Use the special chakra ink and form seals that perform special actions. Reduces the chakra consumption of forming a single kanji seal by 5℅. Chakra Consumed: 5]
And Kai smugly looked at his stats after the month of grind, especially the exhaustion he had to deal with because of Basic Chakra Enhancement.
[Name: Kai
Age: 4
Title: Uzumaki Guardian
Gamer Traits: Skill Tree; Sleepless Gamer
Rank: Academy Student
Hit Points: 100℅
Stamina: 100/100℅ (2.1/min)
Chakra: 1123.5 (321*250℅) (39/min) (15*160%/min)
Physique: 18→ 29/1000
Mental: 9/1000
Perception: 8→ 17/1000]
[Skills]
[Chakra Sensing (7/25): Every Chakra has a unique signature that is hard to identify by others. Increases the Perception stat by 1 every level. Increases the rate of chakra recovery by 5℅. Chakra Consumption: 30/min.
Next Level: Register 127/2000 additional chakra signature or 2 SP.]
[Completed Skills:
1) Dishwashing (1/1)
2) Massage (3/3)
3) Seal Language (5/5)
4) Sprint (3/3)
5) Meditation (25/25)
6) Chakra Spiral Technique (10/10)
7) Leaf Sticking Exercise (25/25)
8) Konoha Basic Taijutsu (10/10)
9) Basic Uzumaki Fuinjutsu (10/10)
10) Basic Chakra Enhancement (10/10)]
[Skill points: 104]
Now Kai had concluded after asking around a bit that the E-ranked Jutsu taught in the academy only needed 1 SP to level up but whether a 25 level cap skill or 10, a technique beyond the scope of E-rank demanded 2 SP at the very least and Kai was sure that the number would grow.
"Hmm, you really grew five centimeters," Mikoto hummed in amusement, her head tilted slightly and her eyes narrowed as she quipped with a short smirk, "How cute Kai-chan, you hit your first growth spurt~!"
Kai looked positively happy, enough so that he ignored Mikoto who tried her level best at teasing while he Tsume looked at him with unconcealed envy now that he was almost as tall as her but deep in her violent vertical pupil hid a deeply rooted awe that scared the fuck out of him. Kushina, on the other hand... was a drooling mess as she slept. No amount of chalks thrown at her head by their Sensei woke her up.
The month of Taijutsu had passed. Students: bodies remembered the physical turmoil and they trained daily while the class took for Ninjutsu and revisions.
And Kai really wanted to learn these jutsus. Chakra is quite amazing and their contribution and ingenuity in jutsu even more!
"WAKE UP!" Sensei almost tore Kushina's ear before she woke up with a groan and looked about.
"Hmph," snorting at the unruly student, the teacher, smacked the podium to gather the attention and announced, "I hope all of you kept up with the leaf sticking exercise because the first jutsu all of you will learn is the Transformation Technique!"
The man hummed, "Aside from the rope escape technique which you are expected to learn on your own, the Transformation Technique will be the foundation for the remaining Clone Technique and Body Replacement Technique."
"Now," the man raised his fingers, and a puff of smoke covered him before their Sensei turned into a completely different person, eliciting awed hums from the class, especially the civilians and Kai whose gears turned in mischief.
"The Transformation Technique requires a ninja to know their target of transformation so that they have a solid imagination. The advanced forms of this technique also allow the user to transform themselves into an inanimate object but the user must have a detailed knowledge of the particular item down to its weight and reflection itself. Hmm, so, the first thing you have to do is control your chakra and make it flow around your skin, just like when we did in the leaf training exercise but around your entire body this time and then..."
Sensei described the technique while everyone listened attentively.
"Psst, I thought your clan taught you this technique," Kushina leaned towards Mikoto who heard the explanation carefully and shook her head, "If you're expected to graduate from the academy, the clan leaves academy level skills and focuses on other techniques."
"Yeah..." Tsume whispered.
"TSUME! The hell are you doing leaning on Kushina's and Mikoto's side from behind? Go back to your seat!"
Tsume pouted and snorted before walking back while the class snickered lightly and their Sensei called out, "Minato, let's see you try it out. Everyone, pay attention. I will ask everyone to come out and use this technique!"
They nodded and Minato walked out with a smile. His blue eyes flickered in amusement as he sent the same playful but provocative gaze toward Kai whenever he wanted to have a spar with the boy this past month.
"Transformation Jutsu!" Minato muttered after a minute of concentration as Kai easily sensed the chakra around his body and it spilling out somewhat. Again, Kai's own chakra reserve was quite infantile at the moment but he prided in the fact that his chakra control was much higher right now. Sure, there was still a bit of unnecessary leak of chakra every now and then, something a little grinding would take care of soon enough. After all, according to his trait, he had 25℅ reduced chakra wastage and if he finds out more chakra training skills, he can add to this boost. Now that he had completed the Basic Chakra Enhancement, he would go through his Basic Senju Skill Tree and find another foundation technique.
No stopping till 100℅ removal of chakra wastage!
The puff of smoke disappeared and revealed Minato transformed as their Sensei who nodded with a smile, "Remember, using Transformation Jutsu doesn't mean others won't notice anything. Uchiha Police and even other guards have high skills and they can see through a transformation in an instant. There have been a few cases of mischievous runts getting caught by them so be careful."
Kai understood what the man meant, After all, even he could sense that Minato's body was covered in chakra.
"Well done, Minato. Release your technique and go back to your seat. And remember to practice this technique further because I can still sense a little unnecessary chakra consumption."
"Yes, Sensei," Minato smiled and with another poof, recovered his blonde mug.
"Kai, your turn," Sensei called out as the boy nodded and walked to the front.
He looked thoughtful. His first instinct was to transform into Tsunade... she was the most bombshell creature he'd ever laid his eyes on. He didn't care if Nawaki was here or not. But... Kai had heard from Mito how Tsunade was disgusted by perversion because of one of her teammates and yes, Kai knew he had no shot... but it just wouldn't do him good to publicly insult Senju Princess' honor when he was the guardian and wanted to have a higher social standing to get access to a better skill tree.
As such, the boy chose someone else to make fun of.
His eyes locked with Mikoto who looked weirded out but when she was the devious smile on his lips that others would mistake as cute... her eyes widened and the realization hit her—
Kai didn't need more than a few seconds to achieve what he wanted.
*Poof*
"Ara~ you grew 5 centimeters, too~" a very catty but familiar voice emerged from the smoke as a raven-haired, fair-skinned woman matched her gaze with Mikoto and smirked while glancing towards her breasts, "How cute of you. Finally hitting that growth spurt, hmm?"
Kushina had trouble holding her laugh as Mikoto didn't take another second to throw a blunt kunai at Kai... or 'her' with a red face that their Sensei promptly caught who still looked a bit dazed.
"Kai-kun... sigh, the three of you, stand outside the class with a bucket on your heads!"
Kushina was stunned.
"Why me?!" She snapped and the Sensei just waved his hand.
"Sensei, a pack sticks together!" Tsume smacked her hand on the bench and stood up, growling.
"Yeah, you can leave with them," He deadpanned while Tsume nodded smugly and found... the trio glaring at her. If they could have argued and stayed before then Tsume's actions made it easier for the Sensei to reach his decision.
"What? My mama taught me a pack sticks together~!" She hummed and left the class while Mikoto, glaring at Kai who had transformed back and Kushina who glared at both of them walked out.
Minato... looked positively envious and he glanced at the idle Nawaki Senju who was bored out of his wits.
Minato wanted to get to know the genius group of the class but the snappy Kushina made sure that didn't happen and Tsume only managed to burrow in because... she's a knucklehead.
'Maybe... I could try and befriend him?' Minato thought idly.
[Skill formed due to special action.]
[Transformation Technique (1/10): Use the chakra to transform into another person temporarily. Chakra consumed reduced by 5℅ with every level: Chakra Consumption: 20/min.
Next Level: Transform into a different individual 1/9 times or 1 SP.]