The storm clouds overhead grew thicker and heavier, pressing down until even breathing felt difficult.
Squish.
Squish.
The muscles clinging to Konome Taketori's bones writhed in fear.
The pale gray bones drank in thin threads of violet radiance. Green motes, mixed inside the chakra like drifting fireflies, vanished along with it, swallowed whole.
Death's patterns spread across the skeleton without mercy. Unnoticed until now, nearly one tenth of her bones had already been tainted by that ash-gray corruption.
The countdown to death sat like a weight on her heart at all times.
Even eightfold training fatigue couldn't make that pressure disappear.
She'd thought joining Root would let her use Hashirama's cells to extend her life, but reality turned out nothing like she imagined.
Madara Uchiha's transplant was in his chest. Obito's was half his body. Danzo's was just one arm.
What about her?
The Gray Bone had spread through her entire body. If she wanted to transplant Hashirama's cells, she would have to transplant them everywhere.
Put aside the terrifying fatality rate from rejection alone.
Even if she somehow survived, she would at best become a second Yamato. Or she could do what Danzo did, restrain Hashirama's cells with the Sharingan and treat them like a battery, feeding the Gray Bone and keeping it running.
But if her constitution never underwent a fundamental transformation, and the Gray Bone kept evolving toward the All-Killing Gray Bone, her body would never be able to withstand that power, the very embodiment of death and finality.
Transplanting Hashirama's cells wouldn't solve the root problem. It might even accelerate her countdown, until she ended up like Senju Hashirama, dying of some unknown Bloodline Disease.
Konome let out a long sigh.
After weighing the pros and cons, she had no choice but to abandon that slim, life-or-death transplant gamble. Hashirama's cells could be a research subject, a reference sample, but not a shortcut to salvation.
If Hashirama's cells and the Gray Bone were perfectly compatible, if both illnesses could be cured at once, that would be a dream.
What she feared most was the second scenario.
Hashirama's cells and the Gray Bone stimulating each other, both evolving rapidly, then two uncontrollable Bloodline Diseases erupting at the same time.
That would be the kind of disaster that truly ended you.
And the worst part was, she could feel it in her bones. The probability of that second scenario was terrifyingly high.
If this path was blocked, then the key to survival still fell on the Reverse Eight Gates, the technique she hadn't yet completed.
After all that circling around, everything returned to the starting point.
At least joining Root hadn't been for nothing.
The experimental data, the facilities, the equipment, medical ninjutsu, Hashirama's cells, even the Sharingan, she now had channels that could lead her to all of it.
For the moment, Root and Danzo were no longer immediate threats. Even if Danzo tried to move against her, her Yang Release Konome inside Root acted like a living camera. She would have enough time to react, and whether it was a coordinated attack or Kotoamatsukami, it would be difficult to land anything clean on her main body.
As the disciple of two giants who ruled Konoha's light and shadow, as long as neither Danzo nor Hiruzen Sarutobi personally struck her, she had no true enemy inside the village.
As for the future trouble of being caught between Danzo and Hiruzen, that could wait.
First, she had to solve the Bloodline Disease, live long enough to reach the day those troubles even arrived.
At the current rate of evolution, her earlier estimate of three years was too conservative.
Maybe one year.
Maybe half a year.
The Gray Bone would fully take shape inside her. And by then, her body's "reaction" wouldn't be as gentle as it was now.
Reverse Eight Gates had to accelerate.
One month later.
Wednesday evening.
Crimson clouds spread across the sky like immortal fire.
A wrinkled hand blurred through the air, leaving afterimages. Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the girl wrapped in crackling lightning and drew in a deep breath.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!
Boom!
A fireball larger than the Hatake household erupted from his mouth.
And it wasn't over.
His shadow clone on the other side finished its hand seals, and Wind Release chakra surged out, no weaker than the flames.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
The gale slammed into the fireball midair, and the already massive sphere of flame swelled violently.
A sea of fire rolled toward Konome, its range swallowing most of the training ground. The blaze even pressed down the red glow of the sunset for a moment.
Konome's ash-gray eyes reflected the inferno.
A gift inherited from the Three Tails stirred. The moisture in the air rushed toward her, forming a spherical water mass like the Water Prison Technique.
Splash.
The water sphere didn't sit still. It flowed like living clear water, and across its surface, strange vortex patterns began to form.
Whoosh.
The water's motion intensified, spinning faster and faster. Within the vortex sphere, gusts started to appear, and Konome stood at the center like the eye of a storm.
Sun-Chasing Style: Wind and Water Turning Heaven!
Hummm, hummm, hummm!
The fierce Wind Release churned the water sphere until it looked even more violent than the firestorm.
Boom!
A raging water tornado collided with the flames, and scalding steam was whipped up into the sky by the gale.
The overwhelming Fire Release was stripped of heat by Water Release, its temperature steadily dragged below the chakra ignition point. Under Wind Release, the steam lost heat rapidly, condensed, and returned to water.
In just a few breaths.
Hiruzen's combined wind-fire technique was completely neutralized by Konome's wind-water rotation.
"Wind against wind. Water suppresses fire."
Hiruzen's praise poured out freely as he watched the small figure in the water cyclone.
"Beautiful elemental counterplay. An extremely subtle composite technique. You are absolutely the shinobi best suited to mastering nature transformations."
The more time he spent with Konome, the more he sensed that inhuman talent.
Each meeting, her progress was visible. Each spar, she brought surprise.
Her elemental techniques had become more and more refined, especially Wind and Water. Her nature transformation completion was high.
When an ordinary shinobi uses Water Release, at most sixty percent of their chakra becomes actual water. A large portion is wasted, uncontrollable.
So the power of a jutsu, the depth of nature transformation, and the output of chakra over time all correlate heavily with one factor.
The percentage of chakra that truly undergoes qualitative change.
In their first spar, Hiruzen had clearly felt it. Konome's nature transformation hadn't been mature enough. The power didn't match the quality of chakra she possessed.
Now, after only a month, she'd stepped into mastery. That unusual seal-less style finally showed its true strength.
Seal-less ninjutsu wasn't only terrifying because it was fast.
A jutsu-focused jōnin must master at least one nature transformation and several shape transformations. At that point, even with hand seals, they can cast with only a few signs. It's not much slower than seal-less casting.
What makes seal-less truly frightening is the act of casting without seals at all.
If Hiruzen wanted to release a combined Wind and Fire technique, he had to use Shadow Clone first. No matter how fast his hands were, he only had two. He couldn't cast two elements simultaneously.
But Konome could.
In theory, as long as she could multitask and keep her chakra reserves high, she could unleash countless techniques at once.
A blanket bombardment.
The Fourth Hokage's terror came from using the seal-less Flying Thunder God and the Rasengan together. With lightning-fast reflexes, if you were even a fraction slower, you could only wait for death.
Splash.
Water mist surged across the training ground and raised a thick fog. The whiteness swallowed Hiruzen's sight. The small figure in the center of the water cyclone vanished completely.
"Oh?"
Hiruzen's eyes lit up.
"Have you finally developed Water Release's battlefield control utility?"
In last week's guidance spar, he'd pointed her toward this development path. Now she'd brought it to life.
A vision-sealing effect similar to the Hidden Mist Technique. A new skill she'd never used before.
There weren't many sensory techniques in the shinobi world. This fog didn't directly kill, but it allowed Konome's perception, which didn't rely on sight, to bloom to its maximum.
If she'd had this against Yotsuki Hiko, then even if she did nothing else but stall with mist, whether she chose to fight or flee, the initiative would stay in her hands.
"Water Release excels at control and support. I used to obsess over raw destructive power and went down the wrong path, ignoring its greatest advantage. Thanks to your guidance, sensei."
Konome's voice drifted in from every direction, carried by a faint breeze.
Loud, soft.
Near, far.
Strong, weak.
There was no way to pinpoint her position by sound.
The fog roiled. In places where the moisture thickened, the mist darkened into patches of heavy shadow.
Sight and hearing were both suppressed.
With visibility crushed, and with Konome now cultivating Lightning Release chakra mode to patch her final weakness, even Hiruzen found it troublesome.
"Back to back," Hiruzen ordered instantly.
His clone moved in, and the two stood back to back, guarding against Konome's strike.
Buzz, buzz!
Two Vacuum Blades carved through the mist at high speed, one aimed at the original, one at the clone.
Earth Release: Harden!
Earth Release: Harden!
Both Hiruzen cast simultaneously. Dense Earth Release chakra formed a structured layer that coated their bodies.
Clang. Clang.
The Wind Release couldn't tear through the strongest defensive element. It only chipped off bits of earthen surface before collapsing.
"Wind Release is invisible and formless, but its power is immense. With this much moisture in the air, your hidden wind gives itself away."
Both Hiruzen spoke at once, offering critique while giving her no chance to distinguish original from clone.
"And your combination of water-field control and wind still lacks polish."
"Then what nature would you recommend using inside water mist?" Konome's question floated again, elusive as ever.
This was a guidance match. The goal was for Hiruzen to help her identify flaws, so he didn't simply blow apart the fog with Wind Release.
"Lightning and fire lose energy through the moisture in the air. Hidden wind reveals itself. If Wind Release is too large, it blows the mist away.
In that environment, Water Release, Earth Release, and taijutsu are optimal.
With mist, Water Release becomes stronger and consumes less chakra. You can drag the fight out.
Earth Release is heavy and oppressive. Combined with water mist, it creates double-layer field control that makes every step your enemy takes feel like wading through mud."
He paused, then added casually.
"Oh, and sealing techniques.
Sealing has harsh conditions and is hard to land. Water and earth control can raise the hit rate, and then you finish with a seal. One strike to end it."
Hiruzen Sarutobi deserved the title Professor of Ninjutsu. Without hesitation, he built an entire combat system around the mist.
Whoosh.
The dense fog dispersed rapidly. The blood-red evening light pierced the remaining mist, casting Hiruzen and Konome's shadows across the wet training ground.
"Water Release offense can't break Harden. I'm still not fluent in Earth Release. And the Five Elements Seal you taught me last time…"
Konome shook her head lightly.
"I can barely cast it, but I can't apply it in real combat yet. I guess this guidance match ends here."
She waved her hand and dismissed the last of the mist.
She'd spent about one tenth of her chakra. Large-scale Water Release drained reserves quickly.
But battlefield control Water Release wasn't a one-and-done attack.
All the water chakra dispersed into the environment could still be recalled and used freely. Water Release costs the most on the first wave. The longer the fight goes, the less the subsequent cost becomes.
Sometimes a strange situation happens.
A Water Release shinobi clearly has far less chakra than their opponent, yet as the battle drags on, the opponent runs dry while the Water Release user still seems to have plenty left.
Deceptive.
Control.
Support.
Overwhelm with numbers.
Win the endurance war.
That was Water Release's ultimate doctrine.
With the fog gone, Hiruzen glanced up at the sky. He dismissed his clone, picked up the Hokage hat from the ground, brushed the dust off, and set it on his head.
The brim cast an arc of shadow across his wrinkled face and age spots.
"Your Wind Release has improved incredibly fast lately."
Konome's body paused for a beat, then she smiled and explained.
"I've been using Shadow Clones to train Wind Release. I put in extra effort. That's why my Earth Release progress fell behind."
In truth, most of her energy had gone to medical ninjutsu and developing the Reverse Eight Gates. She'd practically shelved the five-element nature transformations.
As for why Wind Release had surged forward, that was thanks to another "cheap" teacher.
Whether Danzo wanted to tempt her with benefits or was simply driven by competitive pride, after hearing Hiruzen's teaching patterns, he started carving out two hours a week to personally guide Konome's Wind Release training.
He truly was a Kage-level specialist in Wind Release. And this wasn't years later when he'd grown old and degraded.
She'd sparred him twice. Under Danzo's terrifying wind techniques, her immature Lightning Release chakra mode felt like paper. Without Earth Release backing her, the shadow clone would have been shattered.
"Mm." Hiruzen nodded.
"Earth Release is still important. Lightning Release chakra mode is powerful, but Wind Release still counters it. If you face a shinobi who specializes in wind, relying too much on lightning will make you suffer.
Use Earth Release to build bodily defense, and you can dissolve that disadvantage. The more varied your combat style, the more stable your odds."
"Got it, Sensei Hiruzen."
Sometimes Konome couldn't help but admire Hiruzen's sharpness. Nearly every problem she encountered, she could get a solid answer from him. Even threats she hadn't met yet, he could anticipate and prepare countermeasures for.
No wonder he'd taught three Kage-level monsters.
Hiruzen watched her calmly, as if looking at someone familiar and unfamiliar at once.
"I've heard you seem very interested in Yin and Yang nature techniques?"
Konome's expression didn't change.
"Yes. I want to become an all-round shinobi who masters seven chakra natures and surpass you, Sensei. That's my dream."
Hiruzen licked his lips slightly. Staring at the brilliant Konome, a vague sense of déjà vu rose again.
The silhouettes of Orochimaru and the Second Hokage overlapped on her body.
"Yin and Yang transformations are too dangerous. If you mishandle them, you can damage your foundation and cause terrifying consequences. I don't recommend you develop those two natures rashly."
Konome's eyes darkened for a moment. Then she thought, lifted her head, and spoke gently.
"I want to insist, but if you say so, Sensei, then there must be a reason. Until I'm confident I can control it, I won't touch Yin or Yang techniques again."
Hiruzen didn't know if her promise was true, but he still smiled in relief.
None of his students had ever been obedient. At least Konome's attitude was better than the others.
"What issues are you having with the Five Elements Seal?"
"I can use at most three different chakra natures at once. The other two are always unstable…"
"A classic multitasking problem."
Hiruzen raised a finger.
"Two solutions. First, grind it out over time. Practice each nature transformation until it sinks into your bones and becomes muscle memory. Later, you won't need to think. The moment you intend it, it will flow naturally.
Second, rapid focus shifting. Convert one nature at a time, in sequence. If you transfer your attention fast enough, it produces the effect of simultaneous transformation."
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