Chapter 37: Konan: "Already Not Working?"
"Um, wait a moment. If I just leave without saying anything, the village chief will worry. Could you come back with me and explain it to him?"
Fū tugged at Shiromo's sleeve.
"Mm, of course."
"Yay~"
Fū bounced her way to the waterfall entrance, waving at Shiromo.
"Hurry up, hurry up, I'll lead the way~"
"So energetic and sunny."
Shiromo remarked with a sigh and followed after her.
Kakuzu also followed in silence.
If the current leadership of Takigakure didn't have any sense at all, Kakuzu had already decided he would purge the place one more time.
Fortunately, there was no need for him to act.
The village chief of Takigakure was a young man, he cared about the villagers, but he was a bit timid.
Because he had no real ambition, he didn't object to Fū wanting to leave. He was only worried about her safety, especially since one of the people she would be leaving with was Kakuzu, a former traitor from their village.
However, after Shiromo told him about how Takigakure's higher-ups had once sent Kakuzu on a suicidal mission to assassinate the First Hokage, the young chief understood why Kakuzu had defected.
On top of that, Fū vividly described how Kakuzu had just saved her, and how Shiromo had healed her injuries. That settled the matter.
The chief agreed.
Some others wanted to object, but once they met Kakuzu's gaze, they didn't dare say another word.
Kakuzu could also tell that this village was full of good people, easy to bully.
Before leaving, he said in front of everyone: "The village is fine as it is now. If it ever turns back into what it was before, I won't mind coming again to carry out another purge and take your hearts."
The three of them walked out from behind the waterfall.
Kurotsuchi was still standing there in a daze.
When she saw Shiromo come out, her vacant gaze slowly shifted toward him.
"Kurotsuchi, what are you doing standing here? Do you want to ask something?"
Shiromo asked, puzzled.
"Shiromo, tell me, do you think this little girl is cute?"
Kurotsuchi pointed at Fū and asked with a serious expression.
"Uh… yeah, she's pretty cute. Why?"
"Then what about me?"
"Eh, you're okay."
"What do you mean, 'okay'… forget it. Then do you think the Raikage is cute?"
The moment she asked this, Kurotsuchi stared intently at Shiromo's expression.
"...Is something wrong with your head?"
Shiromo looked disgusted, even a little nauseated.
"That's good."
Kurotsuchi let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest.
"Alright then, bye. I still have a ton of things to deal with. Let's get in touch again when we have time."
She waved and then withdrew as well.
"Idiot."
Shiromo was completely baffled by her questions.
"Kakuzu, let's head back too."
"Strategist, you go back first with her. I'll walk back slowly."
"Hm? Why?"
"This mission ended too quickly. If I go back now, Deidara will probably start bothering me again. I'll stay outside for a few more days."
"...Alright."
Shiromo grabbed Fū's hand and leapt into the air.
Fū instinctively spread Chōmei's wings. The wings at her waist fluttered a few times before she realized she didn't need to control her flight at all.
"Huh? How are we flying without wings?"
Fū curiously craned her neck to look behind Shiromo, tilting her head in confusion.
On the way back, Fū chattered nonstop.
Shiromo didn't mind. He even took the opportunity to tell her some basic information about Amegakure and the Akatsuki.
After returning to Amegakure, Shiromo handed Fū over to Konan.
Konan arranged Fū's accommodations, then went to find Shiromo again.
She led him to an open area outside the village.
"I've thought of a method. Let's try it."
Konan handed Shiromo a cup of milk with a straw stuck in it.
"What do you mean?"
"Take a sip."
"..."
Shiromo did as she said and took a sip.
Immediately after, Konan took the milk back, turned slightly to the side with her cheeks faintly red, and quickly took a sip herself.
Before Shiromo could say anything, Konan threw two explosive tags at the tree in front of them.
Boom!
The tree exploded and split cleanly in two.
"Does it work?"
Konan looked at Shiromo expectantly.
Shiromo raised his hand, and two explosive tags gathered above the fractured section of the tree, flying back into Konan's hand.
"It really works!"
Konan was visibly excited.
This was a new ability Shiromo had gained in the past month, the same ability that Kurotsuchi had mistaken for medical ninjutsu when he healed Fū earlier.
As mentioned before, before testing whether Nagato could help him activate abilities, Shiromo had once considered asking Itachi.
This ability had been activated by Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.
During that month, the Land of Waves had also seen some basic improvement and development.
Of course, it was still far behind the changes in the Land of Earth.
As part of Shiromo's plan, Kisame had contacted a film crew. Coincidentally, someone in that crew also needed to issue an escort mission.
So Shiromo went there again.
He spoke with the person in charge of the crew and reached a cooperation agreement.
He also chatted with the one issuing the escort mission and accepted it, scheduled for half a month later.
The reason it was half a month later was that the crew still needed time to film in the area.
After finishing all this, Shiromo's natural energy had almost fully accumulated. He then found Itachi and asked him to use Amaterasu, the "Flames of Kindness", on him.
Itachi was shocked, but still complied, aiming at Shiromo's left hand and preparing to withdraw at any time.
It was this so-called eternally burning, "inextinguishable" flame that allowed Shiromo to awaken another kind of "inextinguishable."
The ability's description could be summed up in just two words, 'Restoration.'
It could repair anything that had been damaged, restoring it to its original state.
Shiromo named this ability 'Crazy Diamond'.
However, this ability was very different from King Crimson and New Moon before it, and also very different from the original *Crazy Diamond* in *JoJo*.
The original Crazy Diamond could not heal its own user. That was one of its core rules and limitations.
But Shiromo's restoration could.
His ability had been born from continuously repairing himself while being endlessly burned by Amaterasu.
After returning to Amegakure, Shiromo began developing this ability.
He discovered that simply injecting more natural energy only enhanced the speed and efficiency of restoration.
No matter what, he still had to touch the target in order to repair it.
During this process, Konan also helped by sparring and testing with him.
Clearly, Konan had developed a small idea of her own.
Especially after Shiromo mentioned that restoring inanimate objects consumed very little energy.
If six hundred billion explosive tags could all be detonated and then instantly restored, wouldn't that be wonderful?
So Konan began thinking of all kinds of methods.
First, she tried having Shiromo inject chakra, attempting to treat chakra as an extension of the body.
That obviously didn't work.
Because what Shiromo used wasn't chakra at all, but natural energy.
Shiromo's natural energy was neither like chakra nor like the natural energy of the summoning realms, it didn't carry his personal aura.
His natural energy was no different from that found in nature itself.
Even with Konan using Dance of the Shikigami to block the erosion of natural energy, she couldn't make the natural energy Shiromo transferred become an extension of him.
And now, Konan had thought of another possibility.
Natural energy couldn't act as an extension because it didn't carry Shiromo's aura.
The natural energy inside Shiromo was merely a consumable resource used to activate his abilities.
That meant the truly critical factor was being infused with Shiromo's aura.
So Konan came up with this plan.
By sharing a cup of milk, an indirect exchange of saliva, she picked up a trace of Shiromo's aura. It actually worked!
Shiromo didn't even need to touch the target anymore. Konan's chakra temporarily became an extension of his own!
"This principle is somewhat similar to how tailed beast chakra works."
Shiromo rubbed his chin and analyzed.
In the original story, Naruto distributed the Nine-Tails' chakra to the Allied Shinobi Forces. Then, by bumping fists with Minato to link the Yin and Yang halves of Kurama, he was able to use Flying Thunder God to transfer everyone.
"Already not working?"
Konan threw out another explosive tag, but it didn't restore itself. She turned to look at Shiromo.
"...Konan, that phrasing is really ambiguous."
Shiromo's forehead twitched.
It had already expired.
Sharing a straw like that left only the tiniest trace of aura, it naturally dissipated very quickly.
But did she really have to put it that way?
(End of this chapter)