Starting Something New [Private]

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Thursday – 10:23am – Kitsunes Laboratory

Kitsune had been fiddling with blueprints most of the morning, trying to make last minute improvements to her designs, and with Hisakos assistance, a few had been made. But now came the time to actually produce these “upgrades”. And for that, Kitsune wanted her protégé to be present. She punched in Osutenos radio frequency, and hit dial, waiting for the phone in her hand to connect to his equipment. Hopefully he’d be carrying it with him so Kitsune could tell him to get his rear over to the lab immediately. He’d be learning something new today, so he might as well be here from the beginning.

Upon his arrival, he was greeted by Hisako in her usual way, i.e. walking up behind him and going “Hello, Osuteno-kun.” Her voice had begun taking on slight hints of personality, but practically anyone could tell that there was something off about her. Was it the way she stood absolutely still? The lack of inflection when she spoke? The fact that she had no detectable pulse, yet liquids coursed through her body none-the-less? Perhaps. What mattered, though, was that she was learning, and that she was there to assist Kitsune.

“Glad you could make it Osu-kun.” Kitsune said with a chipper tone “I’ve already prepared the blueprints for most of our work. I don’t expect us to be done anytime soon, but I wanted you to be a part of this from the very beginning. Who knows, you just might learn a thing or two.” she added and grinned at her own sense of humor before unfurling a large blueprint, detailing some sort of glass tube with a bunch of electronics hooked up to it. “Our first project. Making three of these.”

[MFT; WC: 292]

 

[Osuteno]

Thursday – 10:23am – The On-Call Room

Osu started easing himself into the bottom bunk of a bed. Why were so many top bunks taken up and double occupied though? He could hear whispering and shushing as soon as he entered but other than they there were so many excited heartbeats. What was odder was that this wasn't the first time this had happened in his experience though he didn't use the on-call room very often. He could think more on that later though. For right now he was nearing the end of an oddly timed shift and he missed his normal bedtime a good twelve hours before. Just a little further.

It seemed as soon as his head hit the pillow he heard and all too familiar noise come from his pocket. Holding the headset to the side of his noggin he answered it. ""Yes Kitsune-Sensei?" It was going to be one of those days he thought to himself as he left the room and an odd creaking noise began.

Tired and weary Osu walked down the halls and stairs and more halls until he finally got to the lab. Of course he should have expected it Hisako's usual method of greeting caused him to hop up and cling to the ceiling out of surprise and even managed to wake him back up a little. It wasn't easy for people to sneak up on him when he could hear their blood but Hisako seemed to use the lack of a heart to her advantage every time she greeted him. "The front Hisako, please greet me from the front," he begged as he continued to cling from the ceiling with tears of embarrassment rolling down his face. He knew of course this probably wouldn't get through to her.

Kitsune-Sensei of course was already raring to go and never seemed to notice her student's plight as he dropped from the ceiling and winced when his injured leg hit the ground and a very visible shiver traveled up his spine. One of those days.

He traveled over to the table and started looking over the blueprint. Under Kitsune's tutelage he was becoming more adept at using electronics and piecing them together but as he looked at the design he had no idea what she was up to this time. There was plenty equipment involved, some sensors and regulators... "Some sort of healing pod?" Were they actually doing something medical for once? Some days he was worried that Kitsune-Sensei might get in trouble for using hospital space to do nonmedical experiments though that probably wasn't likely as long as Kahako-Senpai was sennin. Kitsune-Sensei might be making it easier on Kahako-Senpai by providing more medical findings.

No, the more he thought about it that wasn't Kitsune-Sensei's style. "It isn't a healing pod... is it." It was more statement than question. "This is going to be something potentially dangerous and long forbidden by our ancestors isn't it," he said sighing but resigning himself to it already. Nothing was really forbidden these days in Kumogakure but that still didn't mean he felt these were things to be playing around with without great caution. Hisako had turned out fine, so far at least, but that held no shadow of the future for Osu.

A very unpleasant voice came rushing from a corner of his mind, "Will you ever stop whining or worrying? Always so damn timid." Uso apparently was up and well... unfortunately. "If you are so scared, pass the wheel over to me and I will handle the big bad boogey monster should it appear." She really enjoyed mocking him. "No you will have your turn later this evening like we agreed," Osu said under his breath. Many things had been discussed with Kitsune-Sensei upon his return from his mission with Saeko and Chiyoko but he still wasn't sure what Kitsune-Sensei had really thought of the more unusual bits like having a library and a person in his head. He was still worried she might have him committed for his own good and letting Uso take the wheel and change his appearance to match hers wouldn't do anything to relieve that fear.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Hisako tilted her head at Osutenos odd request, wondering if she had done something wrong to cause the reaction she got. Ah, if only she knew~. Kitsune handed Osuteno a big cup of what looked to be coffee ”You look like you could use this Osu-kun~.” she said, having noticed the wince Osu made when he landed on his injured leg. ”You know. You really should be careful with that leg of yours. And before you ask, yes I saw. There’s very little my eyes miss.” This was true. Kitsunes eyes were probably her best asset in terms of assessing situations and reading people. Granted, she didn’t always act on what she saw, but she did indeed see it.

”It’s not a healing pod, though that is a good idea, albeit highly inefficient energy-wise.” she said, smiling at how fast her kouhai was picking up on things. ”You’re aware that Kinjutsu were forbidden up until only a few years ago, right? Anything involving them would fall under the category of ‘potentially dangerous and long forbidden by our ancestors.’, but yes, it is one of those things. Though this is mostly to try and make it easier for the village shinobi to obtain a particular Kinjutsu.”

Kitsune explained in detail how the Tsukomogami Kinjutsu worked, and how long it normally took before forming the required bond with the weapon to even be at the starting point of learning the true potential of it. ”What I’m trying to do here, is bypass that entire process, by forcibly creating the bond. See, this ‘pod’ as you called it, will contain the weapon, floating in a liquid chakra solution that’s been blanked out. This means the first chakra to interact with it will attune the entire vat to that person.” she explained while pointing to the relevant parts of the blueprint, to guide Osuteno in what she was thinking.

”The key component for interacting with the contents will be this keypad here. It’s a biometric reader, that’ll also act as a chakra receptacle. The user places their hand on the pad, and focuses their chakra there, that’ll send it through the machine, and into the vat, keying the chakra to theirs and then the fun process begins. See, that’s when the entire vats chakra solution will be infused into the weapon, essentially making it as much a part of that person as their chakra. This is how the artificial bond is created.” she explained, bordering on rambling now.

It should be clear to Osuteno that this was something Kitsune had been designing for a while, given the level of detail she had on the blueprints, and the fact that she had multiple glass tubes sitting in the lab, ready for assembly with the machinery which would also act as the bottom of the device. ”What the two of us have to do, is assemble a machine, and see if the receptacle theory works. It has to be flawless and only accept chakra from one person at a time. If it accepted mixed chakra, the process would be ruined, and could possibly cause the weapon itself to shatter.

Fortunately, the glass tubes are heavily reinforced, I believe the craftsmen call it ‘laminated safety glass’. I had them tested by putting a bottom and a lid on them, then triggering a small explosive charge lined with ball bearings in the center of the tube. It cracked and fell apart, but it didn’t get blasted everywhere.” she explained and held up a tiny shard of glass. ”All the fragments end up this size. And the tube is more than capable of containing the metal. Not a single of the ball bearings escaped the tube, actually.”

 

[Osuteno]

From Hisako's obvious confusion to his request to Kitsune-Sensei's explanation that they were indeed playing with formerly forbidden knowledge, specifically the tsukomogami kinjutsu, Osu felt himself grow more and more tired. Through the explanation he sipped at the bitter concoction he hoped was coffee while Uso nonchalantly started reading out loud the names and deeds of some known historical users of the kinjutsu just to try and distract him though he was able to follow the general explanation easily. He did however have to mute her out as best as he could as Kitsune started explaining that she was attempting to bypass the need for a deep spiritual relationship with the weapon that served as a base for the art. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that as he stared at the information in the blueprint.

Kitsune was a brilliant scientist and in general the smartest person he knew, but often he felt she got a little too focused on trying to make something work and discovering the unknown in place of the implications of success and how it would affect the world in the long run. Of course those remained unknown variables until after the fact so maybe it would never be done otherwise. Perhaps it had something to do with his practicing philosophy of medicine. There were two main camps of medicinal treatment, the first and more traditional focused on stabilizing and strengthening the body's natural processes to fight sickness and improve health, the second involved pushing past the body's normal limits and fighting sickness directly with foreign substances. Practically all modern medicinal practices involved using elements of both though doctor's individually leaned towards one or the other in their preferences. Osu naturally leaned towards the first school due to his use of his bloodline ability in healing. Kitsune-Sensei, at least as far as he could tell, belonged more to the second group particularly with her areas of focus including prosthetic engineering though he was learning that as well himself. Again most doctors lay towards the middle of the line and used whichever they deemed more appropriate case by case. Still he nodded and listened to Kitsune-Sensei because usually this was about the point in her explanations she would ramble a bit before saying something else that threw him off.

She had an odd ability to throw unexpected things at him from nowhere. In fact he had nearly forgotten that when he had come back from being a wanted traitor while on a mission.

That bitter day had been a good while back. The only reason that some of the branch leaders let Osu out of their sights for as long as they did had been because the clan head pointed out he was very much in need of a medical examination before the others could set about interrogating him and deciding what to do to him concerning the embarrassments he had brought upon the clan. For the longest time he simply took the walk through the hospital hall at an extremely slow pace to give him some breathing time between people. He had after all spent the previous days chained up in a holding cell with a constant guard. His eyes were dark circles, his skin was almost as pale as his matriarch's, he felt and was indeed filthy, and he just desperately wanted some solid rest. He was so exhausted at that point he hardly noticed the pain coming from his freshly shattered leg he walked upon or the nightmarish vision of killing those men or that there was a very mean girl and a very large library in his head. He had stood on the outside of the hospital room door already aware of Kitsune's heartbeat on the other side just as he knew she was already aware of him paused there. He wasn't sure what to expect of her reaction of him being declared missing or any of the other actual crimes he committed if she knew about those... such as fooling the most secure prison's security system to allow Saeko to break in. Still he had been through so much stress at this point that this didn't weigh on him as heavily as he stepped through the door...​

Osu shook his head bringing him back to the present. "While I am glad to know that I don't need to worry about explosions throwing shards of glass at us, he was honestly glad about that, but I have a question concerning what we are doing here and the original nature of the kinjutsu. As far as I understand, this is normally a symbiotic relationship formed by a deep connection with the weapon to the point of sharing life energy. The weapon itself finds life and protects and acts with its wielder." Osu gestures to the blueprint. "Would this be like telling two strangers to share their lives? Or are these weapons not as willful as their counterparts? Is there a chance they might refuse their would be wielders?" Yes this seemed to go against the point of the kinjutsu, but at the same time Hisako had too. She hadn't been a human to start with but there she was, a self moving and thinking robot. It wasn't that he disapproved, Hisako herself was well and fine, he was just cautious when they were doing something, well, new.

MFT WC 896

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune shook her head in response to Osutenos inquiry regarding the weapons ”No chance of that, no. That’d be like refusing yourself. It’s more like giving the persons subconscious an outlet for whatever flows through it. Imagine arguing with yourself. The rational you knows that you’re making a sound argument, while the emotional you might win purely from swaying your heart. So the weapon would have a will of its own, just like the actual Tsukomogamis, it’s just part of your will, not one it developed on its own.” she explained, gesturing for Hisako to begin putting one of the tubes upon an already crafted base. They’d still need to actually craft the hand mechanism, and get a volunteer test subject to try it out, but it was a start at least.


Kitsune had been in the process of approving and denying expenditure requests for the hospital, when the door to her office opened up and an exhausted Osuteno walked through it. Kitsune didn’t look up, and kept putting signatures and replies on the requests. Ten million yen for a particle accelerator, who the hell did these people think they were? They could use the one already in the third sub-basement of the hospital, and be happy about it, instead of wanting new toys all the time.
”So you’ve returned, my little missing kouhai.” she said, oddly cheerily. ”I figured it was about time for you to come back.”
If anything, Osuteno should’ve been highly confused by that, and Kitsune then finally looked up at the young MiT. ”Now. I have just one question for you, before I let you explain your side of this whole debacle.” she said, pausing and folding her hands on the table while leaning forwards (unintentionally giving Osuteno a near perfect view of her cleavage in the process) ”Are you okay?” she asked him, entirely serious about it, because if he wasn’t, she’d damn well make sure to help the kid.


”See. What we’re going to be doing, as I explained before, is bond a person with the weapon, by forcibly infusing their chakra, their essence if you will, into the weapon. It’ll be as much a part of them as their arm or leg is. Only it’d be, y’know, able to argue with you in your own voice using your own logic. It’s you in weapon-form. And it’s also a big boost to the capabilities of this hospital if it works. The more kinjutsus we can ‘hospitalize’ the easier they’ll be to regulate. As you might remember, we need to register kinjutsus we possess. For example, my eyes. They’re registered, as they’re Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan eyeballs.” as she explained, she removed a contact lens, revealing her constantly active Sharingan to Osuteno, before forming it to the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan variant. ”The more people that come to us, to obtain these powers, the easier it’ll be to register them, and make sure they don’t fall into the hands of the enemy. In other words, yes, there’s method to my madness.”

 

[Osuteno]

Osuteno couldn't help but grin to himself when Kitsune said that it would be like refusing oneself, which earned him another choice phrase from Uso about how they weren't the same person and that he should take the grin off his face before she beat it off of him. He could imagine arguing with himself veeeery easily though not quite in the way Kitsune was describing. Was she indirectly teasing him with these comments or was she just so absorbed with this project and was coincidentally poking at things he was worried about?

Osu was... too tired to be surprised by anything at this point and if he were in any other condition he might have tried to play down his injuries. "No... I am not terribly well off right now." Osu paced the room with a very obvious limp now though at first glance it appeared to be minor. "The mission was one disaster after another. I was useless and a hindrance. I thought I was going mad all the while." He accidentally entered dangerous territory with that last statement. He really was exhausted to have let that bit slip already but it didn't stop him from continuing. "The Noise and the voice that has been taking me by surprise turned out to be different things entirely. Yes, yes your name is Uso, which is still an awful name by the way." Now it would look like he was talking to himself though internally Uso fervently defended her existence and anything she could use to define herself, though that was hardly the issue right now. His mind was racing for words and he just said things as they came to him, a bit frantically as if he were afraid he wouldn't be able to say enough.

"These last few weeks... I... I don't even know where to begin." He had spent so much of it afraid, though not quite for the reasons one might think. "It all began properly though I didn't know they would be expecting me to do an autopsy or even the nature of the mission until I was on the boat. That went well enough, and we were quickly able to find out who killed the servant. Things didn't really go wrong until we entered the slums." There was a lost look in Osu's eyes as he recounted the tale. "We captured the killer, but then we were swarmed in out escape... The others were separated from me and injured and I had to drag the assassin around until I found them. There were two men there and I..." It wasn't unusual for shinobi to kill, even for someone at his age having your first kill wasn't so unexpected... however, how he killed them. "Those men had found the girls and were going to... to... And I killed them. I made them afraid as I had never seen anyone before. I forced the first to stab himself over and over until he was dead, had his friend watch. Then I pulled the blood from his corpse and... All that was left of the other man was a stain. The entire time the Noise had us, and... it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. The blood meeting the air as it left the body and the heart in its last struggles and beats." And while it had been an amazing feeling, the very thought that he had enjoyed it nearly pulled his stomach from him. "And what made it all worse was the look of approval in that man's eyes... After I began on their recovery and was briefly captured by the assassin due to my own inability, we were betrayed as you likely know. Once more we were separated, once more I was captured and used as bait, though thankfully he actually wished to help us. And so we escaped though only to find out we had been branded traitors."

It was then that he approached a chair, sat down in it. Or fell into it to be more honest. "This was selfish on my part but... I was so afraid of how ashamed of me you, my friends, everyone was of me at that point. That I might die with all of you ashamed to have known me as a traitor." Like any other nine... no he was actually ten now wasn't he? He just remembered that he had just past his birthday. Anyway, like any other overstressed and upset ten year old tears began dropping from his eyes as he felt himself get in quite a wad. He had good reason to be upset but that didn't make it any less embarrassing. "The rest of it happened so fast after we made shore. Evading ANBU patrols, hiding in the brothel, Titan, swimming through to that prison's heart... the pain... drowning... dying..." He felt Uso actually tense up more than he as he mentioned their close brush with death, though Osu continued on.

"We have so much in our head now. All those books. The Titan people injected me with so much information it still makes my head feel so full. I have spaces in my memory from it including when we were drugged and captured and the first few days of imprisonment. As for my general physical health..." He removed his shirt to reveal where days considerable amounts of his flesh had been dissolved right off of his shoulder and chest leaving harsh burn like wounds as well as being cut up and bruised terribly all over. Then Osu forced the odd passive tensing of the veins in his leg to loosen up with a gasp from him. He eye watered, his mouth quivered and his leg below the knee was revealed to have bends and snaps that would suggest at a glance that it would never be useful again, that walking should take years of therapy to ever manage again if he kept it. It had been extremely painful before but now the pain of letting the leg and the bones loosen from their positions briefly drove all thought from his mind and sight from his vision. After a bit of that though, and not by any active thought on Osu's part, he instinctively pulled his veins tighter to return his leg to its proper position, as if his body was refusing to let itself fall apart. All in all, under his very modest and covering clothing he looked as if some giant had picked him up by that leg and slung him around into sharp objects and poured acid over him until his leg had shattered and left him in a damp, dirty hole to die. He had barely had enough energy and supplies to prevent his wounds from developing any serious infections though now he was very dirty and had just gone several days without treating anything while in captivity.

"I need help." He said quietly. He had been wanting to say that for about three or four weeks now, but he still needed help, if not as much anymore.​

Osu sighed at his sensei's explanation as it partially seemed to poke at his own possible insanity with all the talk of arguing with oneself, but he nodded as he understood what she meant and the point of the experiment. He understood being able to provide and monitor these abilities in the controlled environment of the hospital allowed them to study and better be able to treat them. What did bother him in another sense was how much people were altering their bodies for the sake of getting stronger. Not that it was wrong, it was a shinobi's duty to be strong for their village, but Osu couldn't help but wonder if something was lost in these changes, a direction and freedom in potential in other areas once someone had dedicated the very structure of their body down a certain path. Was anything else lost? Would some over piece of oneself be lost in these changes? It was honestly all above his head as far as he could tell and he may very well be overthinking everything.

"So for this device we still need to create... this?" He gestured to the scanner though it was much more intricate inside and seemed to incorporate the same chakra coil technology that was inside Hisako. "It has to only take the sample from one so I guess that is why the base design is that of one of the hand scanners so it will do... an initial scan of the subject's dna before taking the chakra sample? Is this another safety to make sure only authorized individuals can link to the weapons?" He was trying to piece together what the item did by reading what the components were in the blueprint. He still couldn't quite get his head wrapped around all these electronic parts and their wide variety of applications. In truth, he much preferred working with the human body.

MFT WC 1500

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune looked up from her work, and directly at Osu. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean like that.” she said, apologizing for her insensitive comments about arguing with yourself. Then she proceeded to answer his questions ”Yes, that is indeed what needs to be constructed. It’s the core component for this experiment. Without this, there’s no interfacing with the weapon and liquid, short of sticking your hand through the glass, which would also ruin the odds of it working.” she said, rubbing her temples, as she thought about how best to secure the unit.

Then Osu asked about what the device would do, how it operated, and Kitsune nodded. ”The more secure these devices are, the less issues we’ll have in the future if unauthorized personnel were to gain access to these devices.” she replied, and began soldering together a few of the components, using her chakra as the fuel for a tiny precision laser beam that’d then heat up the soldering tin. This way she had pinpoint accuracy and could make perfect connections between the circuit boards and the components. ”See, when an individual is screened for this procedure, a DNA sample is taken. If they’re found to be compatible, physically and psychologically, that sample will be entered into the system, allowing the verified user to go to any of these tubes and place their hand on the pad. It’s a one-time activation though, so once activated it cannot be halted or interrupted.”

Kitsune listened to what Osu was telling her. It was a harrowing tale, that’s for sure, and she didn’t want to interrupt the kid as he recounted it. But when he began crying after revealing how he had been afraid of how ashamed people was of him, that he could die with everyone being ashamed of having known a traitor, she paused him by jumping across her desk, and wrapping her arms around him. Enclosing him in a protective embrace, shielding him from the evils of the world. ”Osu-kun. I could never be ashamed of you. You’ve endured so many things. So many horrifying and downright terrible things, that no nine, or ten, year old should have to experience. But you pulled through, and you’re here with us again, absolved of guilt and with quite a lot of experience under your belt. How could I be anything but proud of my kouhai?” she said in a low, soothing tone.

It was pretty safe to say that Kitsune felt very protective of the young Chigokai. And was it any wonder? He was her student, she was his mentor. And more importantly, he was just a kid. A kid placed under her protection when he entered the medical branch. On this particular note, she had probably not been the best mentor, but everyone has flaws. She took a step back when Osu began explaining about his physical wellbeing, and nearly had her jaw drop onto the floor when she saw what had happened to the kid. Her eyes picked up on the odd movements of his leg and her mind immediately began to think up a treatment plan for everything on his body. It wouldn’t be easy, and just healing it all would likely take a couple of years off his life expectancy. Not exactly ideal, but when he said that he needed help in that quiet tone, Kitsune couldn’t help but immediately roll out a scroll, activate it, and consume every single mixture within it, charging her entire body up with raw unhinged chakra. ”Just so you’re warned, this will hurt like hell, but you’ll be given the help you requested. And I will personally make sure you’ll be alright again.”

She placed her left hand on the semi-dissolved shoulder and the right hand on the burn-like wounds on his chest, pumping healing chakra into his body at a rate most people wouldn’t be able to handle, but Osu would easily handle it thanks to his Chigokai blood. His body would begin knitting itself back together, and bones could be heard creaking and snapping themselves back into place where they should be, as steam rose off of Osus body along with an oddly distinct sound of boiling water, despite no water boiling.

By the time the odd flashback had finished, Kitsune and Osu had finished their work on the hand scanner and were in the process of installing it on the tube coming up from the device base containing the necessary wiring for the device to even function. Upon it being connected and put in place, the light in the base came on as now there was an electronic brain to control it all. This meant that the empty glass tube now had the odd effect of light shining through the glass, as the lights in the base were right beneath the edge of the glass, lodged in the rubber seal. This also meant that the light travelled through the glass, illuminating all the way to the top. ”Well then. I’d say that looks just about ready to be filled up and have a weapon tossed in.” Kitsune said and smiled before hitting a button on the tablet lying on the table, opening up a cabinet with a long tube inside it. ”Could you grab that, and attach it to the socket in the base, Osu-kun?” Kitsune asked, as she lowered a sword into the vat, and then attached the top to prevent overflow.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu simply shook his head at Kitsune's apology as if it wasn't needed. Of course she didn't mean it that way. Osu listened to her explanation as his eyes examined the finer details of the blueprints all the while Uso was scribbling quite loudly as she recorded her notes and thoughts as her normal habit.

Taking a brief pause from her endless note taking Uso spoke up. "Ask the old woman about the chakra sampling mechanism and how it functions and its possible uses regarding... What the hell do you think you are doing with those wires?"

"Oh don't you start again, you were wrong about the wiring last time and you still won't listen to me."

"I certainly will when you start being right!"

And thus Osu worked on putting the thingamajigger next to the whowhatsit while trying to split his attention between what Kitsune was saying while arguing over proper wiring.

Osuteno wasn't quite sure how to react to Kitsune's hug. It was warm and motherly, at least he assumed this was what motherly felt like. The thought made him squeeze back as she told him how proud she was of him. She was the second person in a long, long time to offer such a gesture to him, and he would never say how much he wished it wasn't so rare a thing. As he let go and finished recounting his tale and showing his injuries he for once saw Kitsune wearing a look closest to shock that he had ever seen on her. Of course he didn't see it for long as he exposed the greatest of his injuries, which was rather distracting. Coming back to himself only to be told he was about to be hurting again. Hopefully it wouldn't be as bad as what he just felt showing his...

Osu was not quite expecting as much pain as he was experiencing, what with the whole sensation of being boiled from the inside out and all the nerves triggering and his body really pulling itself back together. All in all no one except Uso could really be hard on him for rolling his eys up into his head and passing out. Uso on the other hand was left with control of the body and a cursing streak that would make the librarian blush... Maybe... Tough call honestly. Kitsune might have noticed the complete change in attitude and the change in the tone of voice or possibly even the fact she was screaming "Don't you dare pass on me you damn weakling! Don't you leave me alone in this!" Before taking a bit of a nap herself. All in all most of the body was good as new (though the one leg remained very sensitive and needed time to break back into its normal duties at full capacity thus the orders to take it easy for a while) and everything hurt like bleeding hell for days.​

<i></i>

Back to today's time Osu and Uso had circled around in their head and were currently arguing the scientific benefits and ethical issues of finding out whether or not it would be possible to modify one of the tubes to try and override a person's genetic chakra make up and in general how science fictiony evil scientist that rang, all the while making the attachments and adjustments requested by Kitsune.

Osu nodded at Kitsunes request to fetch the tube as they were nearing completion and watched curiously as she lowered a sword in.... "We aren't only making swords are we?" He asked as he plugged the item into the base of the vat.

MFT WC 603

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune shook her head ”No, this just a test weapon, if it works, we should be able to use any weapon desired by the user.” she said and pressed a multitude of buttons to make the vat fill up with the raw unkeyed chakra. ”If things goes according to my plans, we should be seeing the sword glowing in a few minutes, as the chakra infuses it to the point of saturation.” – And sure enough, as Kitsune had predicted the sword began to glow a bright - yet neutral - white, as the chakra had saturated the sword. ”So far so good.” she mumbled and scribbled down notes on the progress of the project.

日光 優輝 – Nikkou Yuuki​

At Kitsunes command, the prospective Tsukomogami was shown into the lab. Of all the prospective candidates, she was the most promising because in her blood flowed demonic traits. They’d strengthen her against the raw power of the chakra she’d be coupled with. ”Hm. So I was chosen. That’s interesting. I’m guessing you’re hoping the extra strength of by bloodline would help empower me to handle the forces we’re dealing with here?” Yuuki asked, hitting the nail on the head, surprising even Kitsune. Normally Kitsune was used to people not being as perceptive as her, but this woman seemed more perceptive than most, somehow.

”Entirely correct” Kitsune said and gestured for the woman to sit down. ”You do understand that the procedure is entirely experimental, correct?” she asked, just to make sure that it was fully understood. Yuuki simply nodded without vocalizing her agreement. ”Fantastic. I’m gonna need you to remove one of your gloves, and place that hand on this scanner right here, and focus chakra into it.” she explained and pointed to the handprint scanner pad, which was currently glowing an accepting green rather than before where it was just glowing red.

Yuuki got off her chair and placed her hand on the pad, then channeled chakra into it as she had been instructed to, only to have the machine make a connection between her chakra pathways, and the contents in the tube. Suddenly, the contents of the tube began bubbling and boiling, as it all condensed into the weapon floating inside. Wait, floating? Yes. Floating. The weapon remained suspended in mid-air inside the tube, despite there being absolutely nothing holding it there. It seemed like the infusion process had worked satisfactorily. Question now was, could Yuuki control the sword without touching it?

Buttons were pressed to make the tube unseal, and allow the sword to exit the machine. It still floated a few feet off the ground, but Yuuki was only barely standing upright. She felt drained, and like her consciousness had been sundered in half. Which, well, it had. She was now one with the sword, and to test it out, she tried having the sword cut the chair she had been sitting on before clean in two.

Buuuut as it was a very new thing, she only managed to lodge the sword into the seat of the chair, yet she did it without ever physically touching it. So in other words, the process itself had worked! This was a huge breakthrough, and if they could refine the process to be less intense on the recipient, they’d be capable of providing Tsukomogami treatments to anyone that requested it. It was at this point in time that Kitsune thought to herself Man… Good thing I’m on the side of Kumogakure. I wouldn’t want to fight against things like what I’ve created here...

 

[Osuteno]

Osu had to accept that there wasn't there was to do other than to stand and watch. Afterall he had no idea what Kitsune was planning. He watched as the candidate walked in, watched as they spoke and watched the process of her gaining a kinjutsu through a machine he had just done some wiring on minutes earlier. Nothing to do but watch from an angle that let Uso take the best notes as she could through the whole process. Hmm floating sword. There was a rather high-brow pun to be had there but that simply wasn't Osu's m.o. So no pun. Maybe Uso? .... Nope she didn't do puns either. Darn.

The patient didn't look very well, but maybe that was only to be expected when one gained such a large extension to their body so suddenly. Still, maybe in the future it would be best to do some conditioning first and work on the efficiency of the process to take less from the subjects. He watched further as she... stabbed his usual chair with the floating sword. Still it seemed it had worked, despite a few kinks.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this. He never voiced it much but he was a bit of a traditionalist, from the foods he ate to the clothes he wore. He wasn't against advancement in the sciences but he couldn't help but think about how this particular practice would have been considered heresy by their ancestors. They were called kinjutsu for a reason. Uso on the other hand had stopped taking notes about what was going on and started writing down possible applications of the technology they had observed today... Raiden that girl. She was now pushing him to repeat what she said word for word to Kitsune since it wasn't her turn to take the helm. So he tugged a little on his sensei's sleeve and said in a monotone, "Uso is claiming that this way we could even expand the definition of weapon when creating Tsukomogami. Oh let's get a Toujigikou and fuse them with a cannon! Like a ship cannon! A haku and some ice skates would be hilarious! They would only become sharper correct? Hmm. More seriously though I wonder... Could we fuse someone with anything so long as it doesn't have chakra of its own? What about plants or unprocessed minerals? Do plants have chakra? I wouldn't think so, might need to check into that. I think animals do so that is out but since a Tsukomogami weapon is virtually indestructible, at least while it has a host, could the technique be used to enhance the natural properties of these things? Case would it be possible to fuse someone with what would be a virtually indestructible staff of bamboo and use their chakra to feed it and change it's length? Would that be reversible? Since the natural properties of the weapon were enhanced what would it do to diamond?"

Suddenly he stopped and said, "I'm not going to ask her that... No..." After a few seconds of pausing and shaking his head he began to speak with a rather disgusted look on his face, "What about the dead that no long produce chakra on their own? That isn't Tsukomogami but could we still link them? What about simply pieces of other people like limbs or hair? Would those still have the owner's chakra if no longer connected to them? What about just lump masses of stem cells? Could we manufacture simple golems and bind them to a person? Could we fuse people with tools not for combat but for the mechanization of our industries? Maybe not. Civilians would certainly die if we tried to spread their chakra further than their own basic life functions and it would be a waste to do so with a shinobi strong enough to handle the process. Hmm on that note do you ever think it would be possible to weaponize the process that draws in the chakra? Maybe into a mineral that naturally absorbs it like in our prisons? Probably wouldn't kill many shinobi spread that far or hinder them much but if we could turn it into some sort of bomb that functions like an EMP, without damaging the physical location it certainly might be able to cause a heavy impact on their civilian pop-... No. We are stopping this line of questioning." Osu looked like he was getting upset now and was literally having an internal struggle. "We have no more questions." Uso had many many more questions, each darker than the last. And the worst part was, he was beginning to think of ever darker ones himself.

He walked over to the cabinet at pulled out some chakra supplements. "Here, this is rather bitter but it should help you feel better faster," Osu said to the woman he had just remembered was there and tried to brush the line of questioning aside.

MFT WC: 826

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune blinked at the first thing Yuuki did upon gaining her new powers. Of course, it was to be expected that she’d have issues controlling it right off the bat, seeing as it was literally her consciousness being rendered in two. Then again, it was also an experimental procedure, so. Bugs and kinks were to be expected. Yuuki knew that. Kitsune knew that. And Osu probably did too. Yuuki climbed onto a chair and didn’t quite look like she was fit to fight right now. Hopefully, that’d pass and she’d be just fine later, after some rest and some food that is.

Then, Osu tugged on Kitsunes sleeve and began asking a myriad of questions, that got ever darker and most certainly weren’t what a kid should be saying. ”Osu-kun, it only works with weapons. That’s how the process was designed. Specifically, weapons you can hold in your hands. Cannons don’t work like that, they’re too big. And it can’t be anything. My earlier stages of experimentation tried to bind minerals to a person. And that didn’t go over well. Think of the chakra as… Intelligent. It’s like it knows whether or not what it’s being put inside is a weapon or not. Some might argue that a shinobi would count as a weapon, but no. Something formerly alive, or even presently alive, won’t take to the process.” she explained.

”As for what happens to the weapon during the process, or even after, that has yet to be seen.” she said, running a hand through her hair. ”Y’know. One person I discussed the mechanics of the process with had this ludicrous idea that the weapons could possibly become people capable of shifting in and out of weapon form.” A small smile played on Kitsunes lips. It was a hilarious idea, that’s for sure…

Then came the darker questions, like, fusing people with a lump of stem cells, or golems, or even fusing people with their work tools for industrialization of the society. And… A chakra bomb. ”No, as I said. Weapons only. And Osu-kun. We’re already capable of manufacturing an EMP-like chakra grenade. I’ve got schematics and a prototype for that locked away in a vault. I decided not to pursue that line of research due to how badly it could bite us shinobi in the ass. I mean, we’re heavily dependent on our chakra to do most of anything of use. Disrupt that and kaboom. We’re a village full of uselessness.”

As Osu went over to the cabinet to fetch something to assist Yuuki, she glanced at Kitsune with a raised eyebrow. This woman… She was clearly someone that researched and constructed before considering what things could be used for. When Osu offered the supplements, Yuuki simply grinned, revealing her fangs ”Perhaps, but I do think you’d work better as a snack~” she said, licking her lips a bit, looking at Osu like an animal would their next meal. Clearly her demonic ancestry was rearing its ugly head, and she did absolutely nothing to try and stop it.

 

[Osuteno]

Osu didn't really mind mimicking Uso's questions as she spoke them in his head at first. They were not all that far out there and Kitsune readily explained that it appeared that chakra knew what it was getting into, literally. But as Uso's line of questioning continued Osu because more reluctant to speak for her. It felt odd that the answers for Uso's questions were being directed at him, but he understood why particularly with a outsider in the room. Still he really wished Kitsune hadn't mentioned such a blueprint existed because that was all Uso was pushing at him about now.

"Let's actually just forget all of that actually, I don't know why anyone would want to know if any of that was possible anyway. Here you go miss." Of course when he offered the patient the beverage things suddenly took a turn for the odd. My what sharp... fangs she had. "I'm sorry I don't quite follow. What do you mean I would work... better... as a..." Hold on a moment. What sort of people had fangs? Oddly what came first to his mind was a clan history lesson about a time a few centuries back where a group of people with a grudge against the Chigokai spread rumors about the Chigokai being monsters that had fangs and drank the blood of others and started witch hunts. The Chigokai had regularly been called Vampires as a hate term but now it looked like an actual one was in front of him. Osu paled as he realized he was staring her right in the eye and she would see his were simply two orbs filled with blood far beyond what could be called bloodshot and hers looked very hungry.

A very nervous forced laugh came from Osu, "Ha ha ha ha. That is a funny one because you appear to be a uh... Where here have this and I will just... go check on the reports." Osu handed the beverage over to the woman and walked quickly to the other side of Kitsune and peaked around her while doing a very bad job at pretending he was looking over the notes. "She is kidding right?" Osu asked his sensei in a very quiet voice. "There are no such things as vampires are there?" If so that would be doubly concerning for Osu because he would be an all you can drink buffet. Maybe his blood might not be considered good since it was chakra filled and produced in such large quantities. Once again proving just how bad he was at acting, "I bet anyone who drank my blood would be disappointed, I mean it is about quality not quantity right? Ha ha ha ha... haaa..." Great now there was something in the world that worried him more than bloodless things, This woman's blood flow didn't seem all that different from a normal person's so that meant he wouldn't be able to pick out vampires from normal people if she was one.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Yuuki laughed at Osutenos reaction and took the beverage he had offered, as he scurried away to hide behind Kitsune. ”That’s the most innocent reaction I’ve seen so far.” she admitted with a smirk. ”There are indeed such a thing as vampires, although we aren’t quite as mythical as made out in the horror stories. Our bodies don’t produce enough plasma, so we feed off of blood to gain enough to function properly. Most of us do have an aversion to garlic, but that’s due to allergies. Same with silver, metal allergy. Oddly enough only to that one metal. No idea why. As for the daylight thing, that’s just nonsense. We can go outside during daylight just fine. We just choose not to due to scalding easily.”

Meanwhile, Kitsune was busy writing down results and mental notes and even observational statistics. Vitals seem stable… Talkativeness indicates that she’s mostly recovered already. Personal note: Provide counselling for both Osuteno and Yuuki. Osu, for his ‘crippling’ fear of androids and vampires, Yuuki for a post-procedure check-up or five. was the process that ran through Kitsunes head as she observed the two. ”If you read her file, Osu-kun, Yuuki-chan possesses demonic genes from her fathers side of the family. Well. From her actual father, to be specific. She’s half demon. As you may have already figured out, I selected her from the list of candidates due to the inherent strength in those types of genes.” Kitsune explained.

This of course meant that Kitsune had done a thorough study of each candidates family history, as well as done intense study of their genetic structures. And if not for the inherent skill with chakra and manipulation of chakra within the demonic genes, the experiment might not even have succeeded. But with the test being a success, Kitsune could now begin work on refining the process and improving it, making it safe for general shinobi usage. Of course, what Uso had suggested, the whole idea of fusing tools with workers was still off the table. Workers usually didn’t have the chakra required for such things, nor the genetics to support it.

”This is correct. Within my blood flows the power of a demon. And the tenacity and will of a human. A terrific cocktail, if I do say so myself.” Yuuki said with a grin, once again flashing those sharp fangs of hers. ”So Doc, are we done here, or do I need like.. Additional tests or somethin’?” she asked Kitsune, turning a bit to face the busty redhead. ”For now, I think we’re done here. The experiment was clearly a success at first glance. I’d like you to come in for a weekly check-up and counselling session for the next while though, Yuuki-chan. And if you experience anything too far outside the usual, give me a call with your location, and I’ll be there faster than you can say ‘Dracula’.” Kitsune answered and handed the blonde woman a card with her phone number on it.

Yuuki simply nodded to Kitsune and headed for the door, turning right before it and winking at Osu while letting her tongue playfully lick her lips, as if to tease Osu about the fact that he was a smorgasbord for a vampire such as herself. ”I’d call that experiment quite successful, wouldn’t you, Osu-kun?” Kitsune asked of her pupil. Of course, Kitsune herself hadn’t seen what Yuuki did upon leaving as she had been busy tapping more notes and thoughts into a document on her tablet, regularly saving it to the servers at the hospital for the sake of having a backup of the documents. Kitsune intended to be staying for a long while, checking over the data and such, so she indicated that Osu could leave if he wanted to, or he could stay and assist. It was all up to him. The ball was in his court, so to speak.

[Topic Left]

 

[Osuteno]

Osu didn't really like discovering that vampires were a real thing. Or that the blood drinking part was factual. Or that she looked at him very hungrily. Then came the half demon bit. Ehhhhhh? That was something he wasn't quite sure he wanted details about either, but sure enough, he looked at her chart and saw everything there in detail. Uso wasn't quite ecstatic that something that would be considered their main predator in the food chain was in the room with them but was taking interest in that parts, at least, of the occult had basis in fact. Perhaps it might be a good idea to investigate more later, at least was the course of thought for Uso. Osu was just wanting to avoid any more science fiction or fantasy come to life before he got dragged into the deep end.

As Uso was explaining to him exactly why he WOULD be helping her read up on the occult and how he WILL be happy about it he tried to pay attention to the exchange between Kitsune and Yuuki as he learned her name was. As Kitsune turned to start looking at her notes Osu couldn't help but notice Yuuki lick her lips at him before departing. He almost missed what his sensei said. "Yes Sensei." he could certainly call it something. He shook his head when he heard he could go if he wanted. "I'll check the machine's readings and double check the recordings. Uso wants to see them anyway and this way it will get done faster." And with that he began checking the pressure readings and process times on the device.

[Topic Left]

 

[Shinrya Kahako]

Specializations unlocked: (I'm on my phone, so sorry for errors)

Kitsune: Master rank of Kinjutsu Creation- Tsukomogami
Experienced rank in First Aid

Osuteno: Master rank of Medical Ethics (Due to your character's many, many questions of 'is this ethical' throughout your RPs with Kitsune I am giving you this mastery. I have plans for it and you, but I will not be able to start an RP on it until the end of the first week of March.)

Intermediate rank of Kinjutsu Creation- Tsukomogami(your word count here will count towards your next RP for this specialization. I really just need the 'studied over time' requirement to be satisfied.)