The ceremonial knife, whose actual name was the Red Whirlpool had been given to Konoha to serve two purposes.
First of which, had been to serve as a symbol of peace between the two villages and for Konoha’s vast prosperity.
It had fulfilled neither of the two.
The second purpose was to serve as a way to keep the Kyuubi’s chakra from seeping out of the village. It was not a secret that sometimes a Tailed Beast’s chakra could escape from its container during the vessel’s moments of weakness.
Such moments include but are not limited to: Pregnancy, mortal wounds, death and the process of sealing/re-sealing.
To fight such a waste of chakra – which could be utilized by other villages – Konoha had politely asked Uzushio to make some sort of object which could limit such usage of their Tailed Beast.
And their wishes had been complied with, giving birth to the Red Whirlpool. A knife with the passive ability to suck any sort of chakra related to a Tailed Beast which was not being actively protected by the user.
Back when the Nine Tails had rampaged over Konoha, this knife had intensely sucked a massive about of loose chakra released by it.
Ren had not been exactly sure about the use of the knife, and even the Third had long since forgotten the use of it.
The reason for that being that Mito had never had a spillage, even during her pregnancies. That being due to the fact she was one of the greatest fuinjutsu masters Uzushio had ever seen. The second jinchuuriki, Kushina had only seen two such wasted.
One being when it had been sealed inside of her and the second being during her timely death. So, in total, the knife had sucked the chakra of the Tailed Beast three times. The first time being during the time it was first captured.
Why had no one noticed such a secret about the knife before?
Since there had been no other use to the knife, it was locked behind closed doors and left to rot. Luckily for Ren, the knife’s seal radius was extremely impressive to say the least. It left him in awe at the expertise of the man or woman who had created such a seal.
It was so complicated that even he fought it difficult to replicate or even understand it. If Mito’s seals were of a very difficult level, then the seal behind that knife’s ability was higher by multiple levels.
This had not stopped him from experimenting however.
By using a seal with a reverse-function, he had managed to siphon the chakra off the knife and re-directed it inside of his own body. This would cause his body to mutilate and even he was not exactly what would happen to it.
He for one, knew that there were several cases of people who weren’t jinchuurikis holding the chakra of one. The twin silver and gold brothers of Kumo being one such rare occurrence. Ren was very confident on his life force as mix of the two clans with the greatest amount of it.
Ren had gambled. Ren had bet on luck. Ren’s efforts had ultimately paid off.
He felt stronger. Unrecognizable strength and energy vitalized every single cell of his. He could feel his chakra change inside every moment, becoming something not related to a Tailed Beast or even his original chakra source.
It felt better.
‘Heh, I feel like I could smash apart a tree with a single flick of a finger at this point. So, this is how people feel when they are high. Unfortunately, this state of power could also be just a lie. No use getting myself hyped.’
The once vibrant knife had lost its original gleam and truly nothing differed it from a normal blade, excluding the ornaments carved onto it. It must’ve been a sign that it no longer contained chakra – is what Ren thought as he stored it back inside a storage seal on the back of his hand.
He had done this at his own peril.
And he did not regret t.
xXx
Less than ten hours later and Ren was doing his last preparations for the C-Rank Mission. Judging by what he had been told beforehand, they were supposed to travel to the Land of Wave.
They were hired as bodyguards for a man named Tazuna, a bridge builder who had some fame around some parts of the Elemental Nations. Normally he wouldn’t even bat an eye at this information, but rumors fluctuated between villages and lands at haste.
One such rumor already stated that the Land of Wave was under the rule of a rather greedy-businessman to put it into perspective. All of this sounded a bit suspicious.
Why would this man risk his life to build a bridge on a place such as the Land of Wave?
He didn’t think the trip was going to be that long honestly, so he didn’t bring that much, but since it never hurt to be prepared for anything, he brought more than he thought he’d need.
A few rations of food which had disgusting taste but would do their job well, some packs of instant ramen – they were effective for their job, that he couldn’t deny - and a few drinks…
This was of course, excluding the many scrolls he made sure to bring with him. He had many valuable seals on them which he would require in case of an ambush from someone.
He tied a holster around his left leg and made sure to fill it with as many shuriken’s and kunai’s he could – something he didn’t really need to do as he had plenty of both in a special storage seal on a scroll.
‘Time to check on Naruto. you never know with him. The dumbass can’t make a simple storage seal and I am not about to waste some of my time on that. I just hope he doesn’t bring a whole bag of Ichiraku Instant Ramen with him…’
Just as he feared and predicted, the blond ninja was busy with fucking putting more of that abomination onto his bag. A palm snaked its way to cover his face in shame.
‘Where did I go wrong with him.’
“Oh, Ren.” Naruto finally realized that his friend was there and temporarily stopped his activity to greet him.
A greeting which the other returned adequately. The whiskered boy immediately squinted his eyes and scratched his non-existent beard in wonder while looking at him suspiciously.
“Why do I feel like you’ve changed a bit from last night?”
At this sudden question, Ren felt a bit startled. To say he was the same would be obviously wrong. Even without staring at a mirror, the redhead had noticed several differences in his appearance. For example, some clothes he had prepared to take on the trip no longer even fit him. He had grown at least five centimeters last night.
That alone wasn’t that much of a drastic change, but even his facial features had become more defined and sharper. He had lost all the chubbiness that had been left on his face, that no amount of training would get rid of.
His shoulders were slightly wider and he even had to resort to using a bit of genjutsu and fuinjutsu to make the changes less obvious.
‘For him to notice these changes is pretty easy, since he spends the most time with me as compared to the others. Hopefully it’s not a common occurrence. I’ll slowly remove the restrictions as time goes on…’
“How am I supposed to know, I might’ve hit a growth spurt for all I care.”
He nonchalantly replied knowing that the dumb-as-always blond wouldn’t chase around the topic for too long.
“No need to get your pants in a bunch, dattebayo.” Naruto grinned and went back to getting his stuff ready.
Ren inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ll be off then. I got some stuff I need to get from some stores in the village. We’ll meet at the Village Gate if that’s fine with you.”
“Sure, bye!”
xXx
Ren only made two stops in reality. What he was lacking was a proper sword. A stop at the local smithery fixed this. It was not a really exceptional sword, but it would do its job. A long blade which curved unnaturally.
A wonder was the fact it was even usable, but it was made from rare metals and Ren agreed that it was a good sword for now. He could work with it. There were no ornaments on the pommel and the scabbard was a simple brown leather one.
He put the sword around his waist and tied it carefully. He could use a seal to do the same, but he didn’t feel like doing it this time around.
It was still very early in the morning, the sun having just popped out in the distance. He was quite lucky to find an open store willing to sell him something like this so early. He was not in a hurry, as he still had a good ten to twenty minutes before the appointed time.
As his footsteps became slower and slower, he soon came to notice Sasuke. He was the first of the team to arrive apparently. On his back, there was a bag. It seems the Uchiha was not knowledgeable when it came to seals either.
