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"Normal Dialogue"
'Inner thoughts'
[Year X786]
~ With Shisui ~
Five months had passed since Shisui's unexpected meeting with the Wizard Saint, Warrod. The encounter still replaying in his mind as he balanced atop an unusually tall pine at the edge of a remote mountain range, far from Crocus, Warrod and prying eyes. The forest sprawled beneath him, a green carpet disturbed only by the occasional rocky outcropping—perfect isolation for a shinobi who valued secrecy above comfort. Sweat beads formed on his forehead despite the cool mountain air, evidence of the hours he had already invested in the day's training regimen.
With a controlled exhale, Shisui released the chakra from his feet and began a free fall head first down the pine tree. The ground rushed toward him at a frightening speed, yet his face remained calm. About ten meters from impact, he repositioned his body, chakra already flowing to his feet to absorb the fall. A controlled burst slowed his descent just enough that when he landed, his feet just barely disturbed the fallen leaves and sticks on the ground.
"Not good enough," he muttered to himself. "An ANBU landing should be completely silent, even at such a height."
The meeting with the Wizard Saint had been a wake-up call. While Warrod seemed benevolent, his power had been unmistakable. Shisui had the suspicion that the entirety of that huge densely forested area was the creation of Warrod using the mastery of his magic.
'My clone had most likely also been caught popping by Warrod'. His intuition had left the gnawing feeling that his clone had been watched the whole time since he had left Warrod's home. It was one of the reasons why Shisui had not visited Warrod ever since their first encounter.
'If there are others like him, particularly those with less friendly intentions...'
Shisui's Sharingan activates, tomoe spinning into focus. 'Time to increase the difficulty.'
He moved to the center of a small clearing and drew twelve kunai from his pouch. With a swift motion, he threw them high into the air in different directions. As gravity took hold, pulling them back toward earth, he formed hand seals at blinding speed.
Fire Style - Phoenix Flower!
Shisui exhaled a dozen small fireballs that intercepted each kunai mid-air, heating the metal to glowing orange. As the superheated weapons fell, Shisui weaved between them, never letting a single one touch the ground. He caught each with chakra-coated fingertips that should, by all civilian rights, be severely burned—but his control was perfect, a thin barrier of chakra protecting his skin while maintaining the necessary amount.
When all twelve kunai were safely returned to his pouch, he transitioned smoothly into the next exercise.
Shisui knelt, pressing his palm against the earth. Chakra pulsed from his center, spreading through the ground in concentric circles. This was a chakra sensing technique taught to ANBU for detecting hidden enemies—the goal was to extend awareness to specific radiuses without leaking detectable chakra. Shisui pushed his range to three kilometers, keeping his emission so tightly controlled that not even a sensor-type ninja would detect it.
He mapped every living creature within range: a herd of deer two kilometers east, a fox den just beyond the clearing, birds nesting in the canopy above. Near perfect awareness without revealing his presence—the foundation of ANBU reconnaissance.
Rising, he selected a boulder twice his height. Most shinobi would need earth-release techniques to manipulate such mass, but Shisui's approach was different. He channelled chakra to specific tenketsu points along his arms and back, creating a network of reinforcement that allowed him to lift the massive stone with apparent ease. The real test wasn't the lifting—it was maintaining the precise chakra control while under physical strain.
He held the boulder overhead with one hand, using his free hand to form a sequence of fifty-three one-handed seals. Each seal must be perfect—a single mistake would cause chakra disruption and the boulder would crush him. This was an ANBU captain's exercise, designed to ensure flawless technique even in the most compromised positions.
After completing the sequence, he gently returned the boulder to its place and turned to genjutsu practice—perhaps his most formidable skill after the Body Flicker technique. Yet, in this new world, it was also the skill that was most likely the most useless for him.
Without a partner, genjutsu training required creativity. Shisui created three shadow clones, each programmed to attack him while attempting to break free from whatever illusion he casted. As they rushed him from different angles, he locked eyes with the first, triggering a layered genjutsu that showed the clone a completely different battlefield. The second clone he captured with a sensory illusion delivered through sound alone—a technique that did not require eye contact. The third he allowed to get close, using touch to transfer the genjutsu directly through skin contact.
All three clones faltered, caught in his illusions. The real test came as Shisui maintained all three genjutsu simultaneously while continuing to move through advanced taijutsu forms. His muscles burned with the effort, but he did not relent.
Hours passed like this, cycling through disciplines: shurikenjutsu with targets he can barely see, chakra-nature transformation exercises, Body Flicker drills that had him appearing and disappearing across miles of forest in seconds.
As sunset approached, Shisui stood in the center of the clearing again, breathing controlled but deep. The day's training had been productive but left him unsettled. Despite his capabilities—despite being one of Konoha's elite—the existence of beings like Warrod reminded him of his potential vulnerability in this world.
"I need to be ready," he said to the empty forest. "Not just for myself, but for whatever purpose I'm meant to serve here."
The thought of purpose brought a familiar ache. In Konoha, his role had been clear. Here, he was still searching—training not just his body and chakra, but his resolve to find meaning in this unexpected second life.
~ A few days later ~
While his body trained, Shisui's mind gathered intelligence. After finishing a particularly grueling chakra control exercise, he sat cross-legged at the edge of the clearing, forming the distinctive hand seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," he whispered, and with a puff of smoke, an exact duplicate materialized beside him. They exchanged a nod—no words needed between versions of the same consciousness. The clone's hands move through a series of seals before his appearance shifted, features rearranging into an unremarkable-looking merchant with weather-worn skin and graying hair at the temples.
"Oak Town," Shisui told his transformed self. "Focus on guild dynamics and any rumours about magical research."
The clone nodded. Maintaining both the transformation and the clone required significant chakra, limiting Shisui to sending out only one scout at a time. After the clone departed, heading down the mountain path that would eventually lead to civilization, he retrieved a small leather-bound journal from his pack and reviewed his accumulated intelligence.
For five months, his clones had systematically explored Fiore, gathering information while maintaining the appearance of ordinary travelers. The journal contained detailed maps of the kingdom's major cities and towns, annotated with population estimates and notable features. Crocus, the capital, received particular attention—its layout, guard rotations, and the elaborate security surrounding the royal palace all meticulously documented. There was even a massive colliseum-like structure being built—likely part of a large scaled event of some sort.
Shisui flipped to the section on political structures. The relationship between the Magic Council and the guilds appeared complex. While the Council ostensibly governed all magical activity, their actual control seemed tenuous at best. Powerful guilds, like the once renowned Fairy Tail, routinely flout regulations with minimal consequences beyond fines and stern warnings. It was a far cry from the rigid military hierarchy of the shinobi world, where insubordination could be punishable by death.
"Decentralized power," he mused, making another note. "Potential advantage if I ever need to operate under their radar."
The pages on guild structures revealed another interesting pattern. Most formal guilds maintained a strict hierarchy with guild masters at the top, followed by S-Class mages and then regular members. Yet within this structure exists surprising autonomy—guild members chose their own missions and formed teams based on personal preference rather than strategic assignment.
One page was dedicated entirely to the magic ranking system. Wizard Saints like Warrod represent the pinnacle of magical achievement, but information about them remained frustratingly vague. His clones had confirmed the existence of ten such individuals, though their identities and capabilities varied widely in public knowledge.
Turning to a dog-eared section, Shisui reviewed what he had learned about Ethernano. The basics were clear: microscopic magical particles that exists naturally throughout the atmosphere. Unlike chakra, which must be generated internally through physical and spiritual energy, Ethernano was absorbed from the environment. Mages in this world developed "containers" within their bodies to store this ambient magic, drawing on it to cast spells.
But the deeper mechanics—how exactly this absorption worked at a cellular level, how the containers expands, how Ethernano interacts with biological systems—remained elusive. Most mages seemed to take these processes for granted, having never known any other way of accessing power.
'It's like asking a civilian to explain how breathing works,' Shisui thought, 'They know they do it, but not the precise mechanism.'
He closed the journal, considering his options. The answers he seeked likely exists in specialized research facilities like the Bureau of Magical Development or within the archives of the Magic Council itself. Infiltrating such locations would be possible with his abilities.
But the risk remained too high. If those facilities employ mages of Warrod's caliber, detection became a real possibility. And unlike in Konoha, where he understood the political landscape intimately enough to predict consequences, here he'd be operating with incomplete information.
"Not yet," he decided. "Not until I understand more about Ethernano and the effects it could have, especially against my own Chakra."
The memories of a recently dispersed clone filtered into his consciousness—impressions of a coastal town, conversations with fishermen about strange tides caused by underwater magical currents, rumors of sea creatures transformed by prolonged exposure to concentrated Ethernano. Interesting, but still surface-level knowledge.
Shisui stood, tucking the journal away. His current approach had limitations, but patience had always been a shinobi virtue. His clones would continue gathering whatever they can from accessible sources while he focused on understanding his own capabilities in this new world.
The deeper secrets of Ethernano would have to wait.
~ End of Chapter 07 ~