"What do you think prompted this?" Mito asked her ward about the just departed young couple that had come to bother them at the Uzumaki Residence for the third time already.
Shiki's shadow clone shrugged.
"The answer is plenty obvious, Mito-sama." The boy responded.
Just Danzo being petty.
It did not even need to be said really.
Even if Maiko's parents and clans of origin came around to complain, they would not be able to create any real trouble, Shiki knew that, Mito knew that and Danzo knew that.
Hence, this was just the Darkness of Shinobi being petty.
He knew nothing would come of it but was still going to bother them just for the sake of it.
As for Maiko's biological family and their intentions as well as feelings, in the end, they did not matter in the slightest for any of the other parties involved.
*
Still having Maiko to take care of, Shiki was not really free to advance his plans and ideas but he was confident that the girl would be able to survive a week or two without him in at most a month.
'Until then, I'll just go hard on my training near our residence.' He helplessly decided.
Speaking of residence, with Maiko's continued problems at interacting with other people, the boy renovated the hideout he kept her in into a rather sweet home with all amenities and appliances taken care of by seals.
'Still, I'm a guy that can't help but plan out his entire life even if said plans end up being useless because of some unexpected occurrence.' Shiki internally sighed as he began considering several important tasks he set for himself.
'I need to increase my training load and start extracting the potential of the Nirvana Seal to boost my power growth. That is the immediate concern, getting as powerful as possible ahead of the war.' He thought.
'Also, Nawaki died when he was 12 in the original timeline. He's four years older than me so that is next year . . .'
'The butterfly effect caused by my existence ought to have taken care of that already but I might as well prepare some extra measures. You can never be too safe.' The boy decided.
'Back to me I can also develop or recreate some jutsu to further speed up my training, like that Body Revival Jutsu Shinno used in the movie with the Zero Tails. It would be useful for others as well if I can make it easy enough to learn.' Shiki mused.
'Speaking of the Zero Tails, it is a weapon of the Land of the Sky which, if history repeats itself, will declare war on the Five Great Nations and get destroyed in the upcoming Second Great Shinobi War. Need to look out for that.' He made a mental note.
'I also want to experiment with the Welcoming Approach: Thousand Armed Murder I stole from the Fire Temple. If I can develop it into an original jutsu, I'll be able to use that power in public without worry.'
After all, the incident at the Fire Temple did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Land of Fire and there was even an official mission to look for the culprits commissioned by the Temple and the Daimyo himself.
'There is also the matter of the Uzumaki clan's destruction. Mito-sama's changes have likely derailed that whole plot but still . . .'
If Shiki made no preparations of his own, just in case, it would not really be him now, would it?
'There is plenty of stuff for during and after the war but for before, that is all I had planned, however . . . Maybe I can change one thing a little, might increase the forces at my disposal'
What the boy was considering was something he originally planned to leave for after the war but now, he was wondering whether he could take care of it beforehand.
Truthfully, his lacking power was one of the main reasons Shiki decided to leave it for later but with the Nirvana Seal complete, the boy figured he might be ready before the war even started.
What was he thinking about?
Freeing Uchiha Hikari from the seal that imprisoned her.
Talking to her, helping her out and, if she was amenable to it, recruiting her to fight by his side, that was the objective.
Even if she could not be made into combat power, Shiki still wanted to help her out, Mito always wanted him to be a good person, he just tried to get the most benefits out of his act of good while doing them.
Nothing wrong with that, at least as far as he believed.
Shiki's main pre-requisite for this undertaking was having the ability to physically stop the girl if he could not talk her down.
Uchiha Hikari was very powerful but her most hax ability, Yachihoko, would not be in play during a one on one after she was just unsealed.
Yachihoko had a very troublesome ability to collect chakra from any marked individuals which Hikari could accomplish through her Engraved Tsukuyomi but she might also have other means.
She could also mind control people and manipulate memories but that was useless against Shiki.
The chakra drain was the dangerous part.
'If she can only mark me through genjutsu like the Engraved Tsukuyomi then I'm safe due to my immunity but if she can do it in other ways, I might be cooked.' Shiki thought to himself.
'Sure, my Nirvana Seal can replenish as fast as she drains, maybe even faster however . . .' His brow furrowed at the consequences if that came to pass.
In the game, with enough gathered chakra, a guy using a copy of Hikari's Mangekyo was able to beat back adult Naruto and Sasuke using Nine Tails Mode with Majestic Attire: Susanoo.
They were weakened at the time granted and the guy had shinobi-ware cyber implants but they were still Six Path Level individuals.
'Meaning if the battle goes on long enough and Hikari can drain enough chakra from me, she'll at least hit SuperKage Level, even without shinobi-ware to boost her further.'
Shiki began pondering on possible countermeasures . . .
'I don't know the mechanics of her drain, that's the problem, so I don't know if a counter is effective or not.' He mused.
After a few more minutes of mental turmoil however, he shook all those thoughts out of his mind.
'Whatever the case, improving my own strength is the current priority. If I manage to reach Six Paths level in a few years then all of this thinking is futile.' Shiki internally declared, fully aware of how nonsensical the thought was.
He was not the reincarnation of the Sage's sons, he would no show up and hand over Six Paths power in his time of need, enabling brats like Naruto and Sasuke to go from what Shiki estimated to be Elite Genin strength to Six Paths Level in, give or take, 3-4 years.
'Food!' A mental transmission blasted into the boy's mind, cutting off his train of thought.
"Duty calls . . ." He muttered and went to cook for what was beginning to feel like his daughter . . . or pet . . .
*
Unbeknownst to him, Mito or anyone else for that matter, a certain Monkey was beginning to harbor some "interesting" suspicions.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -