The sun was sinking.
Konome Taketori walked behind Might Guy, her pink bear backpack now slung over his shoulders.
Whatever knots and worries were turning in Shikamaru's mind, she knew nothing of them. To her, getting close to a pack of kids who looked precocious yet were still soft as dough inside was almost too easy.
Naruto's Nine Tails was already a prize within reach. Once he learned to control it, asking for a slice or two of fox chakra would not be difficult.
Her academy social web was basically set. There had been no summons from Root. The Third had his doubts about her, but he probably would not act rashly.
Konome let herself breathe for the first time in days. From waking on a battlefield to fleeing the Mist, shouldering the Leaf's suspicion and the Hyūga's coldness, to leveraging Might Guy to break in at the academy, she could finally afford a stretch of calm.
"Guy."
Hearing his name, Guy, who had been sneaking sidelong glances at the mysterious visitor from the Mist, snapped his bowl-cut upright, then remembered she had spoken and swiveled back again.
"Y yes?"
Konome frowned at his bobbing like a rattle drum. That nervousness… had Kakashi used her school day to tell him everything?
"Do you know where I can buy chakra paper?"
"Chakra paper? The ninja tool shop has it. I will take you."
He led her toward the shop by the academy.
Chakra paper was made from a special, chakra sensitive wood. It reacted by type to the chakra poured into it, which made it the standard way to identify a shinobi's elemental affinities.
They had covered chakra nature today in class, which reminded Konome that she had never actually tested her own.
She had devoured a piece of the Three Tails, so Water was a given, and Wind was likely. As for Earth, Fire, and Lightning, she truly did not know.
If she had the natures, learning would be smoother. If not, it hardly mattered. Nature transformation could be trained. For anyone aiming at Kekkei Mōra, mastering nature change was required coursework. Being born without it only decided whether the path would be rough or smooth.
She had no Rinnegan, no Sage Body. Even with half of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's power as a foundation, she could not ride a straight line to Six Paths the way Naruto and Sasuke had.
Given the Byakugan's absolute control over chakra, perhaps the road to a Six Paths state for the eye was to fuse all seven properties into the highest tier. Seven nature transformations, then a natural evolution of the Byakugan.
The Tenseigan on the moon looked more like brute force, a premature evolution of the eye, then a back formation of a pseudo Six Paths mode.
For Shikotsumyaku, would the Six Paths technique be All Killing Ash Bones? How did one evolve the bone pulse itself?
The original tale detailed the Sharingan's branching ladder in loving depth, while the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku were treated like stepchildren. She would have to chart that path herself.
"We are here."
Guy stopped before a shop with a bold, flamboyant signboard: Shinobi Tools Mantendō. Not Tenten's family store.
Konome swept the interior with the Byakugan and found no sign of a girl with paired buns.
Inside, an entire wall glittered with tools. Kunai and shuriken, of course, along with bandages, weighted leg straps, blades of many lengths. She even spotted a meteor hammer and coils of wire. On the shelves, tags for expensive goods like explosive tags and sealing scrolls. The highest shelves held ninjutsu scrolls, each priced higher than the last.
A mid ranking shinobi was haggling with the shopkeeper over a sack of kunai. When the deal ended, the owner turned with an easy smile.
"Hey, Guy. What can I do for you this time?"
Round cheeks squeezed his eyes to slits, but a sharp glint flashed there. Guy often commissioned absurdly durable training gear here. A green bodysuit, a strange aura, pure taijutsu, the owner knew him well.
"One sheet of chakra paper and a pair of ten kilogram weighted leg straps," Konome said, pointing at the counter drawer where the paper was kept.
The owner glanced at Guy, and, seeing no objection, fetched what she asked for. Guy, tactful, paid without a word.
Konome lifted the pricy paper and examined it. A neat rectangle, smoother and silkier than ordinary stock. Beyond that, it looked plain.
She pinched it between fore and middle fingers, and let chakra seep into the fibers.
Both Guy and the shopkeeper hissed in unison.
A few customers turned, curious.
The paper dampened, then began to crumple, then split, then smolder, then sifted away as a pinch of dust.
"All five basic natures?"
"They say the Third Hokage was born with all five."
"This kid is something else."
A few bystanders murmured, clicked their tongues in envy, then went back to their errands. Everyone was busy. No one would drop their day unless the five natures belonged to their own child. Then they would parade that kid around Konoha.
Konome raised a brow as the last flecks vanished. A chemical reaction out of Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku, or truly a natural full affinity?
Either way, it would save a mountain of work on nature transformation later.
"Do you carry a Shadow Clone scroll?"
She looked up at the highest rack. Almost everything up there was elemental ninjutsu, very few of the other systems.
The owner's attitude grew warmer by the second. Raw, visible talent did that to a shopman's heart, and the mess of chakra paper dust at their feet was one loud advertisement. Konoha had many tool shops, but only his had just tested a five nature prodigy. If word got out, everyone would want to buy chakra paper here for luck.
His gaze on Konome brightened to a glow.
"No Shadow Clone, but I have Water Clone. I can give you a discount, eighty thousand ryō."
"No. Shadow Clone only."
To Konome, few things in the original were more broken than Shadow Clones. Training seven nature transformations was not work for one body. Kaguya would return in ten years. She did not have time for the long road.
"Five hundred thousand."
She lifted her hand, all five fingers extended.
"If you can find me the Shadow Clone scroll, I will pay five hundred thousand. If you find Multiple Shadow Clone, I will pay one million."
The owner swallowed hard. Ninjutsu scrolls were as valuable as you could make them, and yet a scroll was only paper. You could copy one and sell it to many, pure profit. At a million, he could buy a copy at a premium, transcribe a second, sell Konome the fresh one, and keep the original for himself. Free treasure.
Konome set a thick stack of green bills on the counter. "One hundred thousand as a deposit. We will return in three days for the Shadow Clone scroll."
"Three days might be…"
"If you cannot manage it, I can take my business elsewhere. I have a poor memory though. I may forget exactly which shop sold me this very special chakra paper."
The owner stared, feeling for a moment as if this delicate, smiling girl had peeled him like an onion and read him through and through.
"Fine. Three days it is."
He grit his teeth. Worst case, he paid extra. The chakra paper publicity would be the real windfall.
Guy, still stuck on the earlier display, watched the two of them finish a major transaction in the blink of an eye.
"Konome, the Multiple Shadow Clone is a forbidden technique. It is not supposed to be sold."
"Right, of course. I would only be admiring this young lady's once in a century talent and offering a private gift," the owner said solemnly, sliding the weighted straps into Guy's hands.
"Let's go, Guy."
"Please come again."
Guy hefted the straps as the owner bowed Konome out, and for a second the Leaf native felt oddly out of place in his own village.
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