[A/N: We kinda hit a hiccup, but 900 chapters! Another 100 to go before we reach 4 figures! Thanks for all the love and support guys!]
Fujin glanced at his chakra flowing into the valley and thought, 'This valley truly is enormous. It's been a year and I don't think I have filled even 0.1% of its volume. That said, I haven't been entirely focused on it. Majority of my time was spent trying to fill this lake and I had to draw chakra from here several times, affecting the speed at which these artificial reserves leave.
Oh well, it doesn't matter. Even though my chakra reserves have grown tremendously, the lake still has enough chakra to refill my reserves over 18 times. I'd escape long before anyone forces me to that extent. Once my chakra grows further, filling this valley would become easier. As of now, I don't need to focus too much on it.'
Fujin created a couple of Shadow Clones before he sucked Matatabi's chakra from the pot and sealed it inside the floating refinement sphere in his inner world. In an instant, the sphere started glowing brightly, its rays slowly eroding Fujin's inner world!
Fujin observed her chakra properly and analyzed, 'Interesting… Her chakra isn't vile like Shukaku's chakra. Instead, it possesses a ferocity like I have never seen before. I have a feeling that her chakra will be harder to refine. And, the difficulty will increase a notch further since it is a lot higher than Shukaku's chakra. I wonder if the difficulty of refining their chakra increases as their number of tails increase, or is it only dependent on their nature?'
Fujin wasn't sure of the answer, but hoped he'd find it out soon enough. Floating above the artificial chakra lake in his inner world, Fujin stared at the sphere as he thought, 'Refining and absorbing Shukaku's chakra took 5 days and I didn't even feel the time pass. That is a hidden danger.
If I'm so lost in this process that I don't sense anything happening outside, I can fall prey to a sneak attack. Of course, this base is very well protected with my seals, but I shouldn't be overconfident. There are ninjas with peculiar abilities like Obito and Zetsu, there may be better Grandmasters than me in Jashin and there's always a risk of something unexpected happening, like say a Tailed Beast bomb dropping on my base. I can never be too careful.
So, I'll maintain a couple of Shadow Clones outside while I refine the chakra. I'll also wake up every few hours and check whether I can battle while I'm refining the chakra. According to my calculations, it shouldn't be an issue since even a full Tailed Beast can't break through the sphere. The only damage should be the eroding light the sphere emits due to their resistance, but it isn't that big of a problem. However, I still need to confirm it by sparring with my clones. It'll help me prepare for any accidents that may or may not happen in the future.'
Fujin closed his eyes, concentrating entirely on Matatabi's chakra. He took control of the sphere and suppressed Matatabi's chakra to allow the sphere to do its job. Needless to say, he was met with fierce resistance. Matatabi's chakra frequently broke through Fujin's suppression and exerted force on the sphere, causing it to release the bright light frequently.
Fujin didn't let up on the pressure and continued suppressing Matatabi's chakra every time it broke free. He had a hard time, but he started refining and absorbing miniscule amounts of Matatabi's chakra. Very soon, he lost track of time and became completely absorbed in the training.
——
"You little shit! I'll fry you with my Lightning and eat you for dinner!" Yuji threatened the cat he was holding by the back of its neck. Unfortunately, there wasn't a hint of fear on the cat's face.
Before Yuji could lose his temper, Hoka said, "If you harm it, your mission will be considered a failure. I'll have no choice but to send you to Guy-san for more training."
His words cause Yuji and the rest to shiver involuntarily! Yuji controlled himself while others stared at him. His expression turned dark as the cat looked at him smugly.
Sayaka said, "This time, don't let it escape!"
Yuji snorted, "Hmph, even if someone breaks my arm, I won't lose this little shit! Let's go and give it to Lady Fifth!"
The group flickered towards the Hokage Building. Hoka followed them while thinking, 'I thought I'd just take missions from the mission center to have some fun with these kids. To think that Lady Tsunade would learn about this and personally look over their missions. As I expected, everyone just wants to tease the newbies!'
While Fujin battled against Matatabi's chakra, his students spent time performing the most frustrating missions in Konoha! The spent their days finding lost pets, looking after babies, trimming a garden, pulling out weeds and other similar missions. Their frustration grew each passing day, but the threat of being sent back to Guy made them grit their teeth and complete the missions. For the first time, they got a taste of the dark side of the ninja world!
They weren't the only ones who received a surprise. Tsunade received a report that left her in confusion. Resting her elbows on the table, she thought deeply, trying to make sense of the situation.
She analyzed, 'Akuro clashed with Kumogakure once again! Hmm, this happened over a week ago, around the same time Fujin created a mess in Iwagakure. Akuro defeated Darui's group but didn't kill a single ninja… What is wrong with this fellow? The number of ninjas he kills decreases every time. Why is he picking fights with Kumogakure then? More importantly, why did Kumogakure try to suppress this report and recall their ninjas?'
Tsunade thought for a long while before saying, "Shizune, bring Shikaku here."
——
In a secret base inside of a cave on an inhabited island in the Land of Water, Fujin's eyes opened. A faint warmth pulsed through his body before fading, like something powerful had just settled into place. His breathing was steady, but he could feel the difference. His body felt lighter, stronger, more responsive and energetic! He felt a quiet heat deep deep within him, steady and constant, as if a new source of strength had taken root.
A sigh escaped his lips as he muttered, "12 days… But I finally succeeded!"
Even though his voice sounded tired, his expression didn't display a single hint of exhaustion. On the contrary, his lips were curled up. Just like Shukaku's chakra, absorbing Matatabi's chakra provided him with huge benefits. There were several other aspects that made him happy as well.
Fujin thought, 'Absorbing Shukaku's chakra took just 5 days, but it won't be fair to compare the two so directly. The breaks I took daily severely slowed down my progress. Without them, I'd have done it a day or two earlier.
That still makes it more than twice as long, but Matatabi's chakra was also more than twice of that of Shukaku. Not only did her chakra fought back more fiercely, but since it was larger, its resistance was far greated too. Theoretically, the time I took should have been far greater than just twice. Perhaps, I would have needed an entire month if I tried absorbing this instead of Shukaku's chakra back then.
The reason it didn't was simply because my strength has grown tremendously since then. The greater my strength, the easier it'll be to refine a tailed beast's chakra! Unfortunately…'
Fujin let out a deep sigh, "My improved strength seems to have no effect on the efficiency. I lost nearly 60% of Matatabi's chakra once again…"
Fujin couldn't help but feel pity. It was an extraordinary amount of chakra and could have helped push Fujin even further. Unfortunately, it was all wasted.
Fujin thought, 'Leave it, my gains are still huge. My chakra reserves have nearly doubled! Compared to before Tsunade increased my cellular activity, my chakra reserves are 5 times larger! Since it's an all-round growth, my physique and spirit have gone proportionately as well. And, this isn't my only gain!
Fujin extended his right arm forward and a blue fire lit in his palm!
[A/N: Hey guys, need a quick opinion. What are your thoughts of the chakra levels of each tailed beast?
There's no official data about this, so it's all just speculation. Want to hear your headcanons about this.
Personally, I have 3 speculations -
A) Slight increases per additional tail. So, let's say Matatabi has 10% more chakra than Shukaku, Isobi has 20% more chakra than Shukaku and so on. Only deviation will be Kurama, who could have something like 5 times Hachibi's chakra.
B) Every tailed beast, from Shukaku to Hachibi have same amount of chakra. Kurama has more 5-10 times their chakra. (This one might be the most accurate one as we didn't see a big difference between the remaining Tailed Beasts whenever they were shown, except Kurama of course).
C) My favorite one - I divided the Tailed Beasts into different groups and the the ones in the same group have similar amount of chakra, say in this ratio -
1 : 2-4 : 5-7 : 8 : 9 = 1 : 1.5 : 2 : 3 : 12]
[A/N: If you guys have any ideas about Matatabi's flames, please share. Ty :)]
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