The blood drop turned black and began to grow and spread at a rapid rate before Rei pulled away
"Just as I suspected" (Rei)
[Okay...the hell just happened?!]
"A phase change. This is how Amado made the black receivers" (Rei)
[Phase change...like solidification? How exactly did you figure it out?]
"After you told me about Isshiki, I came to understand the effects of his weapons were different" (Rei)
[Different how?]
"Black receivers like Madara's or Momoshiki's can disrupt chakra and immobilize a target stabbed by them, they act on a principle similar to demodulation. But Isshiki's rods drain chakra from the victim, the exact opposite of Rinnegan-created receivers" (Rei)
[Okay, but that still doesn't explain how you figured it out]
Chuckling a bit "Hehe...it was those things over there" (Rei)
[You mean those weird pipes?]
"Yup, I've been wondering what those devices are for. Their true purpose is to maintain the form." (Rei)
[Maintain the...Oh! You mean the blood!]
"Once given Ōtsutsuki chakra after being properly cultivated, it grows and hardens. The purpose of the tubes is to shape the weapons in the way Isshiki wanted" (Rei)
[...Are you sure that's what they're for?]
"Only one way to find out" (Rei)
Rei rummaged through the materials, taking some of the pipes and shaping them into a single hollow rod with a cap on the bottom.
"Now I just insert the blood, a few of these chemicals, and close the lid" (Rei)
[Then we "watch the magic happen" as it were?]
"Something like that" (Rei)
Sealing the blood and chemicals inside the tube, Rei began pouring his chakra
CLUNK!!! RUMBLE!! BINK!!
Rei opened the cylinder and what came out was a perfectly solid, black, double pointed stake approximately the size of his arm
[You...you did it....]
"Heh! Nothing succeeds like success" (Rei)
[Alright! Alright! How exactly does that even work?!]
Picking up the rod
"With these materials and my chakra, the blood cells rapidly divide, causing it to expand and undergo a form of sclerosis to harden. I'm also assuming the reason it's black is because of the carbon within the cells, but there could be another reason for that as well." (Rei)
[Ya know...those traits seem very...]
"Familiar? They are. Kaguya's ten-tails demonstrated it was capable of body fission and altering it's form. Isshiki's ten-tails is a different specimen, but I theorized it would have similar capabilities" (Rei)
[You mean those little clones it made to fight the allied shinobi forces during the last arc? The way they could make weapons from their bodies, and even Kawaki's cyborg body reminds me of Jugo's sage transformation ability. I wonder if there's a correlation there...]
"...I did consider the same, but there's not enough data to form a proper answer. But once it hardens, the material becomes completely inorganic and unable to change any further." (Rei)
[That's why you couldn't melt down the materials Isshiki already made in the lab and fashion new weapons out of them]
"Yup. Also, Isshiki was able to store them in his personal pocket dimension where time doesn't flow because..." (Rei)
[Oh! He could only store Non-living matter!]
"Precisely! And this is just the surface...there's still so much I've yet to uncover" (Rei)
[I could give you all the answers if you used a Lifeline, but I think with time you'll figure out the whole truth on your own]
"Lifelines are too important to be used on questions that can be solved by myself. But anyway, that's only the first part of the little 'test', the next is..." (Rei)
[Hm?]
STAB!!!! Rei ran the receiver through his arm
[The f*ck Rei?!]
"Ngh! Agh! O-okay! That's definitely a confirmation!" (Rei)
Struggling a bit, Rei removed the sharp rod
[To what?!]
"To whether or not these receivers work. I needed to be sure these rods can drain chakra like Isshiki's" (Rei)
[So to test that, you stabbed yourself...Rei...you cray...]
"Huff...huff...do you...see anyone else around to volunteer? At least now I've confirmed it, they DEFINITELY work well...huff...whew" (Rei)
{Jesus...I must've had the receiver on for only a few seconds and it still managed to take that much chakra from me...} (Rei)
Rei picked up the rod and went back downstairs to the space-time gate
[Where are you going?]
"To get more blood...and...more chakra" (Rei)
{I still can't neglect my training to increase my reserves of power} (Rei)
A few minutes after retrieving what he needed from the ten-tails, Rei returned to the lab
"Alright...moving on to the other device" (Rei)
[Hm...you know Rei...]
"?" (Rei)
[It's not bad]
"What is?" (Rei)
[You're chakra. You're only seven years old yet, you have almost half the amount of chakra Naruto possessed during the beginning of Part 1]
A frown on his face "Under half...is that really something to praise me for?" (Rei)
[Don't be such a downer. If you take into account that Naruto, who was twelve years old at the time, had more chakra than Kakashi then it's a big achievement for someone your age]
"If you say so..." (Rei)
Whip! Whoop! Rei began practicing with the rod
"Hah! Good! The durability is great. I can't wait to run so more tests!" (Rei)
[More!? What else are you gonna do?]
"I've finally succeeded at making a receiver. Now I need to figure out how to make a cube, their functions are completely different than these receivers after all" (Rei)
[Right, those cubes could disrupt chakra sensing]
"I'll continue my 'manufacturing' of these materials while I'm studying these schematics" (Rei)
"Kage bushin no Jutsu"
Leaving the shadow clone to study, Rei began harvesting more genetic material from the Ten-tails
Back at Rei's house, Mabui was at work with housekeeping before she heard a knock at the front door
"Who is- Ah! Dodai-san!" (Mabui)
"Hey Mabui. May I have a moment of your time?" (Dodai)
"Oh...um...come on in" (Mabui)
Being invited inside, Dodai went straight to business
"Thank you. I'm actually here for two reasons. The first is to inform you, Rei's legal guardian, that his team has now been selected" (Mabui)
"Great! He was starting to get a little restless. Heh, I don't think there's a single Genin in the village that's done more D-rank missions than him at this point" (Mabui)
"His actions certainly didn't go unnoticed. Initially, we had a preselected team ready and waiting for him, but due to a last minute change one of the students had to be moved. Here's the notice marking where he reports to his Jonin teacher tomorrow" (Dodai)
Dodai handed her an envelope
"I'll be sure to give this to him. But what was your second reason for coming here?" (Mabui)
"..." (Dodai)
"Dodai-san?" (Mabui)
"...On orders from the Raikage, I've been tasked to inform you that construction of the "Network" has finally been approved by the upper brass" (Dodai)
"So soon?!" (Mabui)
"The war...it's dealt far more damage to our home than we thought..." (Dodai)
"...I knew the situation wasn't great just by looking at the delays for Genin squads...but I didn't think it was that bad" (Mabui)
"Kumogakure's population was never that great for being one of the 'Five Great Shinobi Nations' to begin with. Despite our powerful military and economy, our low numbers have kept us at risk. This mechanism should accelerate our recovery and increase security" (Dodai)
"But this project of all things...it doesn't take a genius to know that revolutionizing technology is never an easy thing to do, not to mention expensive. What made the upper brass finally give in?" (Mabui)
"The ones in the middle" (Dodai)
"The ones in...ah...I see. Damn it, we should've seen that coming" (Mabui)
"We had anticipated smaller nations and individual organizations taking advantage of the Great Nations weary states after the war, but these groups have begun to spiral out of control. If this continues, we'll end up losing much influence in the Land of Lightning" (Dodai)
"How much does the public know?" (Mabui)
"Not much, we're doing our best to keep it quiet...but eventually word is going to get out. There have even been signs of terrorists cells in the west near Iwagakure1Hidden Stone Village and it's been confirmed their 'crusade' is moving East" (Dodai)
"?!" (Mabui)
"Sooner or later, someone with ill intent is gonna show up at our doorstep. We must act as swiftly and quietly as possible if we're ever going to get back to normal" (Dodai)
As Mabui pondered, Dodai set about to taking his leave
"Things are going to get busy, for you in particular. Expect to spend a lot of time by the Raikage's side" (Dodai)
"I've already been prepared to do whatever the village requires of me" (Mabui)
"That's what we want to hear. I'll be going then, you'll be contacted soon enough" (Dodai)
Dodai left the house. Now alone, Mabui sat down and sighed
{Everything is going to change now. The Network is going to be a massive undertaking. I just hope our village can handle it}
"Just where is Rei anyway? He should've been back by now...he better not be goofing off"
{I wonder which Jonin is going to be assigned to him...}
The blood drop turned black and began to grow and spread at a rapid rate before Rei pulled away
"Just as I suspected" (Rei)
[Okay...the hell just happened?!]
"A phase change. This is how Amado made the black receivers" (Rei)
[Phase change...like solidification? How exactly did you figure it out?]
"After you told me about Isshiki, I came to understand the effects of his weapons were different" (Rei)
[Different how?]
"Black receivers like Madara's or Momoshiki's can disrupt chakra and immobilize a target stabbed by them, they act on a principle similar to demodulation. But Isshiki's rods drain chakra from the victim, the exact opposite of Rinnegan-created receivers" (Rei)
[Okay, but that still doesn't explain how you figured it out]
Chuckling a bit "Hehe...it was those things over there" (Rei)
[You mean those weird pipes?]
"Yup, I've been wondering what those devices are for. Their true purpose is to maintain the form." (Rei)
[Maintain the...Oh! You mean the blood!]
"Once given Ōtsutsuki chakra after being properly cultivated, it grows and hardens. The purpose of the tubes is to shape the weapons in the way Isshiki wanted" (Rei)
[...Are you sure that's what they're for?]
"Only one way to find out" (Rei)
Rei rummaged through the materials, taking some of the pipes and shaping them into a single hollow rod with a cap on the bottom.
"Now I just insert the blood, a few of these chemicals, and close the lid" (Rei)
[Then we "watch the magic happen" as it were?]
"Something like that" (Rei)
Sealing the blood and chemicals inside the tube, Rei began pouring his chakra
CLUNK!!! RUMBLE!! BINK!!
Rei opened the cylinder and what came out was a perfectly solid, black, double pointed stake approximately the size of his arm
[You...you did it....]
"Heh! Nothing succeeds like success" (Rei)
[Alright! Alright! How exactly does that even work?!]
Picking up the rod
"With these materials and my chakra, the blood cells rapidly divide, causing it to expand and undergo a form of sclerosis to harden. I'm also assuming the reason it's black is because of the carbon within the cells, but there could be another reason for that as well." (Rei)
[Ya know...those traits seem very...]
"Familiar? They are. Kaguya's ten-tails demonstrated it was capable of body fission and altering it's form. Isshiki's ten-tails is a different specimen, but I theorized it would have similar capabilities" (Rei)
[You mean those little clones it made to fight the allied shinobi forces during the last arc? The way they could make weapons from their bodies, and even Kawaki's cyborg body reminds me of Jugo's sage transformation ability. I wonder if there's a correlation there...]
"...I did consider the same, but there's not enough data to form a proper answer. But once it hardens, the material becomes completely inorganic and unable to change any further." (Rei)
[That's why you couldn't melt down the materials Isshiki already made in the lab and fashion new weapons out of them]
"Yup. Also, Isshiki was able to store them in his personal pocket dimension where time doesn't flow because..." (Rei)
[Oh! He could only store Non-living matter!]
"Precisely! And this is just the surface...there's still so much I've yet to uncover" (Rei)
[I could give you all the answers if you used a Lifeline, but I think with time you'll figure out the whole truth on your own]
"Lifelines are too important to be used on questions that can be solved by myself. But anyway, that's only the first part of the little 'test', the next is..." (Rei)
[Hm?]
STAB!!!! Rei ran the receiver through his arm
[The f*ck Rei?!]
"Ngh! Agh! O-okay! That's definitely a confirmation!" (Rei)
Struggling a bit, Rei removed the sharp rod
[To what?!]
"To whether or not these receivers work. I needed to be sure these rods can drain chakra like Isshiki's" (Rei)
[So to test that, you stabbed yourself...Rei...you cray...]
"Huff...huff...do you...see anyone else around to volunteer? At least now I've confirmed it, they DEFINITELY work well...huff...whew" (Rei)
{Jesus...I must've had the receiver on for only a few seconds and it still managed to take that much chakra from me...} (Rei)
Rei picked up the rod and went back downstairs to the space-time gate
[Where are you going?]
"To get more blood...and...more chakra" (Rei)
{I still can't neglect my training to increase my reserves of power} (Rei)
A few minutes after retrieving what he needed from the ten-tails, Rei returned to the lab
"Alright...moving on to the other device" (Rei)
[Hm...you know Rei...]
"?" (Rei)
[It's not bad]
"What is?" (Rei)
[You're chakra. You're only seven years old yet, you have almost half the amount of chakra Naruto possessed during the beginning of Part 1]
A frown on his face "Under half...is that really something to praise me for?" (Rei)
[Don't be such a downer. If you take into account that Naruto, who was twelve years old at the time, had more chakra than Kakashi then it's a big achievement for someone your age]
"If you say so..." (Rei)
Whip! Whoop! Rei began practicing with the rod
"Hah! Good! The durability is great. I can't wait to run so more tests!" (Rei)
[More!? What else are you gonna do?]
"I've finally succeeded at making a receiver. Now I need to figure out how to make a cube, their functions are completely different than these receivers after all" (Rei)
[Right, those cubes could disrupt chakra sensing]
"I'll continue my 'manufacturing' of these materials while I'm studying these schematics" (Rei)
"Kage bushin no Jutsu"
Leaving the shadow clone to study, Rei began harvesting more genetic material from the Ten-tails
Back at Rei's house, Mabui was at work with housekeeping before she heard a knock at the front door
"Who is- Ah! Dodai-san!" (Mabui)
"Hey Mabui. May I have a moment of your time?" (Dodai)
"Oh...um...come on in" (Mabui)
Being invited inside, Dodai went straight to business
"Thank you. I'm actually here for two reasons. The first is to inform you, Rei's legal guardian, that his team has now been selected" (Mabui)
"Great! He was starting to get a little restless. Heh, I don't think there's a single Genin in the village that's done more D-rank missions than him at this point" (Mabui)
"His actions certainly didn't go unnoticed. Initially, we had a preselected team ready and waiting for him, but due to a last minute change one of the students had to be moved. Here's the notice marking where he reports to his Jonin teacher tomorrow" (Dodai)
Dodai handed her an envelope
"I'll be sure to give this to him. But what was your second reason for coming here?" (Mabui)
"..." (Dodai)
"Dodai-san?" (Mabui)
"...On orders from the Raikage, I've been tasked to inform you that construction of the "Network" has finally been approved by the upper brass" (Dodai)
"So soon?!" (Mabui)
"The war...it's dealt far more damage to our home than we thought..." (Dodai)
"...I knew the situation wasn't great just by looking at the delays for Genin squads...but I didn't think it was that bad" (Mabui)
"Kumogakure's population was never that great for being one of the 'Five Great Shinobi Nations' to begin with. Despite our powerful military and economy, our low numbers have kept us at risk. This mechanism should accelerate our recovery and increase security" (Dodai)
"But this project of all things...it doesn't take a genius to know that revolutionizing technology is never an easy thing to do, not to mention expensive. What made the upper brass finally give in?" (Mabui)
"The ones in the middle" (Dodai)
"The ones in...ah...I see. Damn it, we should've seen that coming" (Mabui)
"We had anticipated smaller nations and individual organizations taking advantage of the Great Nations weary states after the war, but these groups have begun to spiral out of control. If this continues, we'll end up losing much influence in the Land of Lightning" (Dodai)
"How much does the public know?" (Mabui)
"Not much, we're doing our best to keep it quiet...but eventually word is going to get out. There have even been signs of terrorists cells in the west near Iwagakure1Hidden Stone Village and it's been confirmed their 'crusade' is moving East" (Dodai)
"?!" (Mabui)
"Sooner or later, someone with ill intent is gonna show up at our doorstep. We must act as swiftly and quietly as possible if we're ever going to get back to normal" (Dodai)
As Mabui pondered, Dodai set about to taking his leave
"Things are going to get busy, for you in particular. Expect to spend a lot of time by the Raikage's side" (Dodai)
"I've already been prepared to do whatever the village requires of me" (Mabui)
"That's what we want to hear. I'll be going then, you'll be contacted soon enough" (Dodai)
Dodai left the house. Now alone, Mabui sat down and sighed
{Everything is going to change now. The Network is going to be a massive undertaking. I just hope our village can handle it}
"Just where is Rei anyway? He should've been back by now...he better not be goofing off"
{I wonder which Jonin is going to be assigned to him...}
