The apprenticeship went through without a hitch.
Neither Sarutobi Hiruzen nor Konome Taketori cared much for pomp or ceremony.
Under the stunned gazes of the two men in the room, Hiruzen officially accepted Konome as his disciple and, before leaving, ordered Kakashi and Might Guy to keep this matter absolutely secret. Not a word was to leak out.
He still had work to handle, so he did not stay long. On his way out he also took the Black Aobu that Guy had brought back.
He was not confiscating it.
That special cloth was extremely troublesome to cut and tailor, and the three of them had no access to proper ninja tool craftsmen. They could only ask Hiruzen to find someone who could turn it into fitted clothing for them.
The next morning, when Konome crawled out from under her blanket, she was surprised to find Kakashi and Might Guy already fully dressed, standing by the door and ready to head out.
"You two are…?"
"Youth is all about hard work and training!"
Guy had a red sweatband tied around his forehead with the word "Effort" written on it. His gaze was firm and burning.
Behind him, his training partner looked half dead, like someone who had just finished cultivating immortality and had all his energy sucked dry.
Somehow Guy had found a few weight plates and fixed them to both ends of the crystal staff. With several tons on his shoulder, he was still dragging Kakashi out for "special training."
He felt genuinely pressured by how fast Konome was advancing.
He had only been away on a mission for a month and she had already grown this much. Now she was even apprenticed to the Third Hokage.
At this rate she would probably surpass him in no time.
How could he accept that?
Guy's fighting spirit flared. The flames of youth were blazing.
"My vacation plans are ruined again."
Kakashi's teeth were grinding. He glared at his best friend, hair sticking up in an uncombed mess, resentment leaking off him in waves.
Seeing Konome get up, Kakashi's lone visible eye curved like a crescent moon. He lowered his head, pretending to sound enthusiastic as he extended an invitation.
"Do you want to come train with us?"
"No."
The "sense of good and evil" she had inherited from the Nine Tails started blaring alarm bells. Konome refused his not-so-honest offer without the slightest hesitation.
She was not slacking.
She just did not need such inefficient training.
The skeletal control granted by Shikotsumyaku meant that even without physical drills, her body could steadily grow stronger.
At present there were only two things that could restrict her physical development:
Whether her chakra supply, the "power source," was sufficient.
The physiological limits of the human body.
As long as she broke through those two constraints, Konome could lie in bed all day and her raw physical strength would still keep increasing until she hit the next bottleneck.
With his little trap failed, Kakashi could only droop his head and let Guy drag him outside for a run.
The two of them were so fast that in a few seconds they were only dots at the end of the street.
Konome followed them with her Byakugan.
Because Guy was under such heavy weight, Kakashi was actually running ahead of him.
This guy put on a lazy act and always said he did not train, but when he ran, he was fiercer than anyone.
Konome swept her gaze around with the Byakugan, checking every direction to make sure no one was watching the house.
Finally alone and unobserved, she decided to take this chance to see exactly how her Shikotsumyaku had changed.
Thunk.
She closed the front door.
Konome dragged the scale out from under the living room sofa and stepped lightly onto it.
Whoosh.
The red needle swung a full half circle, sweeping from west to east before settling on the number 250.
Two hundred and fifty kilograms was the scale's upper limit, not hers.
The average adult male weighed around seventy kilograms. She was already heavier than three grown men combined.
If the stool beneath her was not solid enough, she did not even dare move too much when she sat, afraid she would crush it to pieces in one go.
Of course, a heavy body had downsides and upsides.
Moving burned more stamina. She had to fight harder against her own inertia, which hurt her agility.
But that much mass naturally equaled more force.
The same taijutsu technique, in her hands, simply hit much harder than it would for the average person.
If she landed a straight punch and the enemy did not use chakra to disperse the force, a regular shinobi would shatter.
Click.
The moment she stepped off the scale, the red needle snapped back to zero.
It bounced so fast the pointer kept trembling.
Konome slid the scale back under the sofa.
Then she quickly stripped off her slightly loose sleepwear.
She closed her eyes.
A faint violet glow linked her meridians and bones.
Her pallid bones, mottled with dead ash-like streaks, seemed to awaken all at once.
They yawned open like a deep abyss, ravenously devouring her chakra.
Crack. Crack.
The pale skin of her arm split open and bone spurs began to grow inch by inch, much slower and more laborious than before.
Something was wrong.
Feeling the suddenly massive drain, Konome hurriedly pulled her chakra back.
Click.
Cut off from their vital energy, the abnormal bones froze in place.
Only a short spur about twenty centimeters long had emerged from her arm.
"Hah… hah…"
Her chest rose and fell sharply.
Konome's breath came in quick pants and her face turned pale.
The amount of chakra that had just been consumed felt like she had come back from a life or death battle.
Why had the cost of using Shikotsumyaku suddenly skyrocketed?
Realizing something was off, Konome sat down cross legged on the floor.
While waiting for her chakra to recover, she studied this new bone.
On the surface of the spur, patches of grey spots had sprouted like mold, with faint grey lines at the root.
The skin on her arm seemed to shrink away in fear, pulling back from the bone spur and exposing the root together with the periosteum beneath the skin.
Red flesh, white skin, grey-white bone.
The three were clearly separated yet could not be parted.
It looked disturbingly eerie.
Konome grabbed a kunai at random and swung hard at the strange bone.
Ping.
Crack.
The instant steel met bone, the kunai's sharp edge shattered.
Konome, who had only wanted to test the hardness of the new bone, jumped in fright.
Looking again at the kunai in her hand, she saw a faint ashen stain spreading over the black surface where it had struck the bone.
She lightly touched the discolored patch with her finger.
Crunch.
Like biting into a brittle cracker, a small piece of the metal kunai broke off in her hand.
This was not Kaguya Otsutsuki's All-Killing Ash Bones… was it?
Staring at the little mold-like grey spot on the kunai's surface, Konome immediately thought of that woman still sealed on the moon.
After repeated tests, including triggering Shikotsumyaku again, she finally figured out her current state.
Starting with the good news:
It was not All-Killing Ash Bones yet, not even a proper prototype.
In the original story, that technique was an instant death attack.
Anything it hit, no matter what, would decay into dust together with the bone projectile.
Konome's Shikotsumyaku did not work like that.
The grey specks spread slowly, and the area infected was only slightly larger than a fingernail.
It was more like a transitional stage, a step on the path from Shikotsumyaku toward Ash Bones, far from that broken level of "touch and you die."
If she used the Sharingan as a comparison:
First-stage Shikotsumyaku was equivalent to a one- to three-tomoe Sharingan, with an upper ceiling somewhere around jonin level.
The second stage was similar to a Mangekyo, but weaker.
Even while suffering from his bloodline illness, Kimimaro had still reached elite jonin strength, enough to help Orochimaru hunt down the Fourth Kazekage.
After devouring a large amount of yang-aspected Nine Tails chakra, Konome's Shikotsumyaku seemed to have been suddenly stimulated by that life-saturated energy.
Now she was on the verge of a third stage, akin to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
To reach the Eternal Mangekyo, a Uchiha needed to transplant their sibling's eyes and probably needed Indra's chakra as well.
Her third-stage Shikotsumyaku, on the other hand, had absurdly simple conditions.
All she had to do was feed chakra into her bones.
Konome closed her eyes and slowly guided her chakra into the bone.
Very quickly, the mottled grey-stained white bone began to gulp down her chakra like a dried sponge meeting water.
Only after devouring enough chakra to drain an elite jonin dry did the grey spots deepen by a fraction.
Looking at her Shikotsumyaku that had grown even more ominous, Konome opened her eyes.
There was no joy there, only worry.
It might be another form of a powerful bloodline, but this was very different from Kaguya's fluffy rabbit hair needle attack.
Even in Kaguya's hands, Ash Bones were a true killing move, something she needed to prepare for despite her monstrous chakra.
This was not a power someone at Konome's level should be touching.
What made it truly frightening was how easy it was to evolve.
The more Konome tested it, the clearer it became.
As long as she kept feeding chakra to her bones, Shikotsumyaku would naturally keep evolving toward Ash Bones.
No bone graft surgeries, no bizarre rituals required.
Every time she used Shikotsumyaku, her skeleton would swallow the bulk of her chakra and push toward a higher stage.
Even if she did not use it, the bones still quietly siphoned her chakra bit by bit.
The effect was faint for now, but compared to when she had been in the hospital, the grey spotting on her bones had clearly increased, and the amount of chakra being drawn off had slowly gone up as well.
At the moment she could still shoulder the cost, but if she let Shikotsumyaku keep growing unchecked, in a few years there was only one possible ending.
She would be sucked dry of chakra and life by the ever growing bones and die.
"Haa…"
Konome's chest rose and fell.
She let out a long, helpless sigh and disintegrated the bone spur protruding from her arm.
Ever since awakening Shikotsumyaku back in Kirigakure, she had been worrying about the bloodline sickness.
Now that worry had finally solidified into reality.
All she had done was eat a little extra Nine Tails chakra, and somehow she had triggered the third stage that Kimimaro had failed to reach even after spending his life.
The Nine Tails really was a supreme tonic.
So potent it was almost too much.
She dressed again, tapping her brow lightly with a fingertip of bone, soothing her gradually tightening nerves.
This Shikotsumyaku issue was not a crisis yet.
Judging from the current rate of siphoning, as long as she stopped casually using it from now on, it would still take at least three to five years for the bones to absorb enough power to fully evolve into Ash Bone.
Thanks to the Three Tails and Nine Tails, her chakra reserves were abundant.
For the next few years she could probably endure the consumption.
As for what might happen after Shikotsumyaku completely transformed into Ash Bone, she had no way of knowing.
When it came to life itself, Konome did not dare gamble.
Fully stepping into Ash Bone could bring changes she could not predict.
Would the chakra it demanded grow even more terrifying?
Tap tap.
Her fingertip drummed against her brow as she paced the room, forcing herself to calm down and think.
At present she could only see three possible solutions to her Shikotsumyaku problem.
First, transplant Hashirama cells and obtain the Senju Sage Body.
Second, study Yang Release, develop a reverse Eight Gates technique to replenish life force, and create a Sage Body of her own.
Third, continue devouring tailed beast chakra, which might help for a while but would not resolve the root cause.
Since she had no idea how much tailed beast chakra it would take to "fill" Shikotsumyaku, and could not predict what changes the evolved bones might impose on her body, Konome leaned toward the first two options.
From what she had seen of the synergy between her Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku, it was reasonable to suspect that a Sage Body and Shikotsumyaku would interact as well.
A body infused with life force and chakra might be the key to stabilizing the bloodline.
But Hashirama cells were currently in the hands of Danzo and Orochimaru.
She did not yet have the strength to deal with either of them.
That left her only one viable path for now.
Once she had sorted out her situation and her thoughts became clearer, Konome swapped her sleepwear for her everyday outfit and headed out the door.
Konoha Hospital.
Third floor, Head Physician's office.
Sunlight streamed through the glass and baked the black leather chair until it was hot to the touch.
In the corner of the desk, a pale pink succulent plant stretched lazily, its plump leaves showing a drowsy charm in the light.
Chihaya Tooru peeled off his gloves and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand.
An apple dangled from his mouth as he bent his head over the medical report on his desk.
His brown hair hung limply over his shoulders, and his gaunt cheeks caved in on both sides whenever he bit into the apple.
He looked like the picture of malnutrition.
If not for the white coat he wore, no one would believe this kidney-deficient looking man was a head physician at Konoha Hospital.
Even fewer would believe he was one of Konoha's top medical shinobi.
Knock knock.
Someone rapped on the office door.
"Mn. Come in."
Chihaya pulled out a wet tissue, wiped his hands and only then removed the apple from his mouth.
The door opened.
Konome walked in dressed in a plain black T-shirt and long pants.
Her cloak had been pierced through by Yotsuki no Isamu and she had not had time to buy a replacement yet.
"Hello, Doctor Chihaya."
"Oh, Konome. Are you here for a follow up on your recovery?"
Surprise flashed across Chihaya's eyes when he saw her, then a slight smile softened his dried out features.
Surprise, friendliness, curiosity.
Konome let her gaze sweep over the colored emotion lights above his head, then smiled.
"Thank you for your concern. My wounds have basically healed."
"That is good to hear."
Chihaya nodded in relief, then looked at her with the sort of interest one reserved for rare specimens.
"When they brought you in that day, you really scared me. With injuries like that, a normal person would have died several times over. I never thought you would recover so quickly. You really are Konoha's number one prodigy."
Konome narrowed her eyes slightly at his somewhat impolite stare, but pretended not to notice.
Ever since Hiruzen had publicized her feats, anyone who knew even a little about the shinobi world looked at her like this when she stepped outside.
And the stronger the ninja, the hotter their gaze burned.
There was a saying that fit well here.
If you never trained, you would see her like a frog in a well seeing the moon in a puddle.
If you had walked the path of shinobi and truly suffered, you would see her like a speck of dust glimpsing the full sky.
Only those who had bled on this road understood what kind of monstrous talent it took to reach elite jonin at her age.
Looking at Konome's healthy, rosy face, Chihaya could not help feeling puzzled.
"If your injuries are healed, then your reason for coming today is…?"
"I am here to ask a favor of you, Doctor Chihaya."
"What kind of favor?"
Chihaya's eyes sharpened and his expression grew serious.
When Konome had been hospitalized, the Third Hokage had personally instructed him to give her special care, and had even personally pushed her wheelchair.
That level of attention was enough to affect a lot of people's attitudes.
He was no exception.
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