June 10th?While his given lessons with Shirakumo were bound to continue for the whole month, and potentially into the future, there were still limits to the discipline that he suspected he wasn't even remotely brushing against. Stuff like chakra mode, for example, which was more in the territory o nintaijutsu. Expansions on chakra flow, too, where he could ssh waves of fme at targets.

  Though admittedly, setting himself abze and then wading into battle was a tantalizing proposition on its own. Perhaps he was more excited for that prospect than he should have been.

  Tobio was a simple guy. Fighting people while on fire sounded like a lot of fun.

  Still, that didn't mean he could be x about training with his Mixed Blood abilities. His sensei had been right when he'd spoken about leveraging his bloodline as much as possible, if only because it was an edge every other shinobi didn't have. That didn't mean anyone was thrilled with how Tobio was going about practicing, though.

  "I'm gonna be sick…" Ami commented, eyes glued to the sight in front of her. She held her hands in front of her gaze, but kept opening up her fingers and peeking through.

  For some reason. Tobio didn't know why, because the sight in front of her wouldn't get any better. Not with what he had pnned to do for his training. He supposed it was like the reflex that kept people rubbernecking past the worst kinds of car crashes in his past life. Sometimes the instinct to look, even when the sight was horrifying, was just too powerful.

  "You ready?" His sensei asked, one hand on his shoulder, and the other on his wrist, primed to pull. There was a noticeable amount of concern on the older man's face, but also a resolve.

  A low, slow huff rolled out of Tobio, as he shrugged softly at the question. "Not really, but I've gotta learn to figure this out one way or another."

  "I'm gonna hurl…"

  Hibachi, who had wisely chosen to turn his back and practice his trapping knots, piped in. "Then turn around!" Out of the duo, he had the wisdom not to peer at what was going to be a horrifying sight.

  "It's like a construction accident!" Ami yelled. "I can't not watch!"

  "One, two, t-" Tekuno started, before the bastard didn't even finish the countdown, before he yanked Tobio's arm out of its socket.

  It hurt. Not even in the top ten pains he'd had to experience in the st few months, maybe, but it wasn't a pleasant sensation, as he hissed at the loud pop of his arm being dislocated. On the surface, this might have even looked like some extreme training by the standards of most shinobi. Tobio had sought it out nonetheless, not when the odds were so stacked against him.

  Training biokinesis and selective 'healing' was…tough. Part of the trouble of bzing a trail was that there was no one to follow after to learn from, or emute. No generations of cn members who'd gone through what he had, and understood the general principles of what he was trying to do. Every Cn in Konohagakure possessed archives that spanned decades, if not centuries, detailing their secret techniques and all their permutations. Even the Nanaya had specific arts for their kin, honed over years of assassination and eugenics.

  Tobio didn't have any of that to help him. He'd a sensei who was supportive of his ambitions, and Depths of the Mind enhanced his learning capabilities, allowing him to pick up tricks and skills even faster. That by itself was good, but not as good as a proper teacher. Which meant that unfortunately, they had to figure out what they were doing from first principles.

  Academically, this was quite interesting. Focusing on his biology on a level that most people couldn't even dream of, as he could practically sense the region and general shape of the injury itself. Now it was a function of mind, over the processes of his flesh. Of isoting the injury in his own mind, and focusing on enforcing his will on the flesh, joint material, and bone, to work despite any infmmation or damage.

  A gagging sound erupted from Ami, eyes practically bugging out of her skull, as she tried not to colpse on the spot.

  "I told you not to look!" Hibachi yelled, sounding smug beyond belief.

  "Shut up!"

  Slowly but surely, he concentrated on the magical energies inside of himself. It wasn't something he found all that exciting, work, shutting out the pain in his mind in a tiny, little box. Compared to his fall in Taki, something like this didn't even begin to rate. How could it, compared to the feeling of hot, spiky agony from most of the bones in his body being bruised or broken? With that in mind, it wasn't long before he eventually felt it pop back into pce.

  The shoulder was still decidedly tender, as he moved it back and forth—but it was operational, however, which was the critical part.

  "How's it feel?" Tekuno asked.

  "Hurts a bit," Tobio admitted with a sigh. "I'm probably gonna have to figure out how to use medical chakra, if only so I can flood my body with the stuff and let it heal naturally."

  Most people had to be more discerning with their usage of medical chakra. He, however, was a bit of a cheater, given his anatomy sort of…pieced itself back together with little effort. Not healing, of course, just forestalling his death. Unless he happened to flood his body with medical chakra, which would hopefully allow him to cheat a little. Hidan and Kakuzu were bastards, yet he'd concede that they had the right idea when it came to being unkilble monsters.

  Ami, no longer retching, though still a little pale, came over to inspect Tobio. "Learning medic-nin stuff is gonna have to wait till after the exam, isn't it?"

  He huffed, acknowledging her logic. Regardless of whether he could compress the effects of multiple learning sessions into one, time was the most significant limiting factor for him. There were only so many hours in a day. "As it is now, I'm still fully capable of fighting. And being able to close my wounds consciously buys me time to get to a medic-nin, even if they're not healed."

  "It's another skill in your arsenal," Tekuno nodded in approval. "How fine do you think your bodily control can get?"

  That was an excellent question. Could he turn off his pain receptors to specific parts of his body? Alter his brain chemistry for particur effects? Both were potentially slippery slopes, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have been worthwhile to pick up.

  "Ready to continue?" Tekuno asked.

  Tobio saw Ami still out of the corner of his eye. "…Continue?"

  "We're starting on the fingers next," Tobio informed her.

  Horror flickered across her face. "Why?"

  "Because if I'm being honest, being able to dislocate my joints at will sounds useful." Horrifying to train, sure, but useful.

  "I'm…gonna go see if Hibachi needs help with those knots…" She left Tekuno and Tobio alone as the two of them prepared to continue.

  His sensei paused as he took Tobio's fingers in his grip. "Does it bother you?"

  "Hmm?"

  "That other people might be leery of the things you do, to train your bloodline?"

  It was a good question. The answer was fairly simple, at least in his eyes. "It's not a matter of whether it bothers me. Provided I live long enough, I'll probably have kids. And I wouldn't have them stumbling through this stuff half-assed."

  "How paternal of you, Tobio-kun," the Jōnin teased.

  "Shut up and dislocate my fingers, sensei."

  Maybe there was a gulf between him and his friends. He could feel the discomfort and horror they might have felt at his particur training methods. If it meant that he'd be all the more prepared to protect them, and all of the people he'd gotten close to in Konoha?

  Then there probably wasn't an upper limit to the things he'd be willing to suffer, if it meant they were alright. He hadn't thought he'd become, or been that type of person before being dropped into Tobio, but what else was a guy like him meant to do?

  Burn bright, burn fast, and hope that there was enough of him left from the ashes in the next few years. If he lived to seventeen, well…

  That was when he could begin to think about cooling it with his training. Until then, there was nothing but the grind.

  It wasn't the most glorious part of his bloodline to practice, but closing up wounds was the best to practice. Tobio was the one who would get the most injured in any of Team Eleven's fights, so staying power was his priority—fundamentally, a ninja was meant to endure.

  And there'd be not a goddamn person who'd be able to outst Tobio, by the time he was done.

  Over the month of training, bottoming out his magical energy over and over again was not an experience that he was thrilled with. Nor was he gaining too many fans at the hospital, as he repeatedly came in to have self-inflicted injuries healed. Bit by bit, though, it was beginning to pay off.

  He wouldn't be able to seal his entire abdomen getting sliced open, for example. Cuts and gashes, though, that weren't as serious, were a different ballpark. In fights between shinobi, those wounds could be the known quantity that causes someone to g at a critical moment, or slow down.

  Now, though…Tobio would keep going. There was something about becoming an indomitable, inevitable monster that just appealed to his sensibilities.

  He'd consider it worth the effort if it saw him and his friends through the exams alive and intact.

  June 20th?One of the most surprising joys in his new life was Tobio's new love for cooking. There was something rexing about the preparation of ingredients, the tender love and care put into his meals, and the deep satisfaction from eating. It was a balm on his soul that was hard to put into words when he could let out all of the tension and exhaustion with well-crafted cuisine.

  And he'd be damned if he wouldn't manage to find a way to teach anyone how to cook.

  Maybe it was childish of him, but he was twelve, so some childishness was allowed. Teaching Fū to cook might have been the most important thing he'd do in the Chūnin Exams lead up. Truly, the fate of the world might hinge on his ability to transform a madaptive, abused tomboy into a functional cook.

  …Maybe that wasn't true, but Tobio would have taken it as a personal failing if he somehow managed to fail to instill anything of value to her in the scant few lessons they'd manage to eke out. Anyone could cook.

  Tekuno had been kind enough to communicate to Fū his address, and let him know when she was free. So now it was just a matter of waiting for the girl to swing by his apartment for the first of our culinary lessons. Tobio had no idea what her baseline was, but it couldn't be that bad, could it?

  Unless Takigakure had just let her run wild and raise herself as a half-feral child. Seriously, what was the possibility that two different Hidden Vilges would mistreat their Jinchūriki in such a way?

  Whatever musings he held, however, were interrupted by the sound of a knock on his door. Rushing over and opening it up, there he could behold the sight of an admittedly nervous-looking Fū.

  "H-Hey! Geeze, I was worried I had the wrong pce for a moment there."

  "No, I'm just…frugal," Tobio defended, trying not to think of the small confines of his home. It was basically a studio apartment, but he could do with somewhere that was a little bigger.

  So far, he'd been sitting on the lion's share of his money from the Taki missions. Perhaps after the exams were over, though, he could sit down and look for a bigger pce to stay. Presuming that he didn't get a System reward during it that would cause his concerns to be null and void. Almost as if it was reading his mind, the System dumped out two new quests.

  [NEW QUEST: REACH THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE EXAMS.][REWARD: CHOICE OF 1x MODERATE ARTIFICE, ERUDITION, MIGHT, OR DOMINION PERK.]

  [NEW QUEST: REACH THE FINALS OF THE EXAMS.][REWARD: CHOICE OF 1x MODERATE ARTIFICE, ERUDITION, MIGHT, OR DOMINION PERK.]?

  As if Tobio needed any more reason to beat the shit out of a bunch of children he barely knew. Of course, he was going to gun for the top, with rewards like that on the line. Who wouldn't? Especially when either of those perks could see a massive change in his fortunes at the drop of a hat?

  "Well, come in," Tobio invited her, smiling broadly. "It isn't like I've got much, but I've got a stove, and a fridge. Anything else is a bit extra."

  "Sure," she nodded, excitedly walking inside. "What's first? Ooh, what about something like oden?"

  "I do love oden," he admitted. "We should probably figure out what you know how to cook first."

  That was enough to make her sheepish, as the girl gnced away from him, shame flickering across her features. "...I know how to steam rice."

  Just when he thought he couldn't dislike Takigakure more, it turned out there were new depths to how low they could fall. Tobio kept his jaw clenched, if only to keep himself from grimacing. "That's…nice. Anything else?"

  "I've, um, caught fish before, and I know how to roast them on a fire," she offered. "Same with some vegetables."

  "Do you just eat it like that, or do you put seasoning on it?"

  "Salt, when I have it, sometimes. Actually, ever since I've come to Konoha, I've had all sorts of yummy meals! You guys really have a generous stipend for your ambassadors!"

  Why would anyone decide to mistreat their human weapons like this? He had to assume there was some sort of Zetsu plot responsible for it because it was tough to imagine such a criminally stupid and negligent decision, especially when negative emotions were almost universally the cause of a bijuu's seal failing.

  It appeared that his work had been cut out for him. But then again, when had he ever eschewed a spot of hard work?

  "Well, it's a good thing that I thought to start at the basics," Tobio sighed. "Let's start with some onigiri."

  Rice balls were about as simple as you could start with, while also incorporating something she already knew how to do, making rice.

  "R-Right," Fū nodded, nervous but still willing to follow along. "What's first?"

  The following few hours were interesting, if only to see how she came out of her shell. In the beginning, it was clear that she was a little nervous and ashamed of her ck of cooking knowledge. This was a Japanese setting, so Tobio wouldn't be surprised if that was genuinely the case. When it became obvious that he wasn't judging her by the ck of skill she had, though, Fū opened up almost immediately.

  There was a deluge of questions from here, as he relied heavily on Beniemiya for the advanced cooking skills and knowledge. The best way to cook rice, the perfect way to roll it into a ball, or what types of meats went well inside of the core of onigiri. Though they hardly stopped there, considering he'd went out and stocked his fridge.

  Omurice, miso soup, fried rice…

  It wasn't as if he was getting tired of cooking Japanese cuisine, but it'd be nice to have something more Western one of these days. He longed for the day when he could introduce these savages to the wonder of a pizza or a hamburger. One day, he'd blow their eastern minds with the finest artery-clogging meals perfected by his American compatriots.

  For now he'd settle for blowing Fū's mind with no small amount of perfectly crafted food.

  "-and there you go. That's fried rice, pretty good to have alongside some other vegetables and meat dishes. Any questions?"

  "Can we eat this too?"

  That got a grin out of him. "Fū, what type of sadist do you think I am? Of course we can eat this."

  Between the two of them, it didn't take long before they'd basically finished the entire bowl. For her, he had to assume it was because she had a sapient chakra construct in her stomach. Tobio was just built differently.

  Sitting on the edge of his bed, she patted her stomach, a look of pure contentment. "I don't think I've ever been this full…"

  Plopping down next to her, he raised an eyebrow her way. "Really?"

  "Really. Back home, in Takigakure, I've…never really had friends, or got to eat good stuff like this all the time."

  "How was it?"

  "Lonely. And the vilge wasn't as big, bright, or loud. But I did like walking among the trees, and seeing the big god-tree watching down on us. It always made me feel safe, and secure."

  He hummed softly. "Do you miss it?"

  That was enough to make her pause, hands twisting back and forth in her p. "…Sometimes? I miss Lord Shibuki, who always made time for me. The forests, the trees, the buzz of insects and birdcalls when I woke up in the morning and went for a walk."

  "But I think the people in Konoha are a bit nicer than home," Fū admitted, smiling toothily at Tobio. "And they cook a lot better food."

  Perhaps this wasn't the way he'd thought to spend his st little bit of time before being pitted into death games with other children. But all in all, there were worse things to do than trying to make a positive difference in someone's life.

  "You're welcome," Tobio smiled, broadly and sincerely. "And if you ever wanna cook again, just lemme know. Or get into contact with Tekuno-sensei. He'll usually know how to grab me."

  "Mhmm!" She nodded excited, beaming brightly. "Anything I can do to pay you back?"

  "Cheer me when I reach the finals of the Chūnin Exams?"

  Fū's eyebrows rose. "You're going in for them?"

  "Yep," he nodded. "It might not have been my first choice, but I think it'll be good for me."

  "Then I guess I've got no choice but to cheer you on then," she grinned, reaching out to sp him in the shoulder. "Provided you can make it all the way there."

  It was all Tobio could do to restrain his smirk. "Well, I think my team has got the teamwork portions of the exam in the bag." Sworn Brotherhood made those bits of it such a cakewalk, that it was totally unfair.

  "If you say so~," she smiled. "But if you don't make it, I reserve the right to tease you about it."

  "Mou, that's mean, Fū-chan."

  "W-What?" She flushed. "What gives you the right to be so p-personal?"

  "Was that too much?"

  "…I mean, I don't mind it…" She trailed off, eyes gncing away from his own. "I-I guess…"

  Here and now, he could feel their connection tentatively begin to reach out. If he so chose…he could add her to his existing Sworn Brotherhood. The real question was, did Tobio want to save those slots for another person, or use them now? With four already filled, he only had four more slots left.

  And they were precious, rare things, even if he could sever his bonds and bind new ones ter. Each one represented a daunting amount of potential, when fighting together. Let alone what happened when all eight were acting as one unit.

  Dragon-Blooded in bands of five could fight armies to a standstill. So what could eight shinobi do, when given the opportunity?

  To bind, or not to bind, that was the question…

  There were the practical realities of Sworn Brotherhood to consider. Each of those slots represented enormous potential, whether in connecting to someone in friendship or just the strange abilities the metaphysical bond could open up. Spending them frivolously, when he only had five more people to add, was unwise.

  With all of that said, though, he had to ask himself a question. Did he want to always think about the most logical, intelligent answer? Or did he want to choose his friends based on the possible connections he could have made to them?

  Almost the moment Tobio threw that question to himself, he knew he had his answer. The only people he truly wanted to sit by his hearth were the ones he genuinely liked spending time with. Ultimately, Fū was fun to be around despite her unfamiliarity and novice skill for cooking, and he didn't want to see her dead in the next two years.

  If he came to regret a decision based on sentimentality, he'd mbast himself for it in the future. Here and now, he allowed the connection deeper than mere friendship to settle between them. Brotherhood reached out and settled around her like a cloak, and he felt her feelings, her health, looming in the back of his mind.

  "I guess that settles it," Tobio grinned, beaming brightly. "We're friends. And when I introduce my teammates to you, you can be friends with them too."

  "Really?" Her voice was decidedly pintive, with a hint of disbelief at his words. As if she couldn't believe that someone would just want to be friends with her, out of the blue.

  He nodded, having already affirmed himself to this choice again. "Oh yeah. Ami's a bit prickly, but she's a big softie when you get to know her. Hard on the outside, soft on the inside, like candy. And Hibachi's zy, though he'll always be the first to swing by if you need a hand for something."

  "They're the other members of your team, right?"

  "Team Eleven," Tobio proudly confirmed. "We're all under Tekuno-sensei. I wasn't sure about the team at first, if I'm being honest. Now, though…"

  Three people had wormed their way into his heart in a staggeringly short amount of time. He'd thought that he'd be alone, paranoid, and having to cw up the peak to power in this world when he'd first arrived here. Loneliness wasn't even the word to describe how he'd felt, and Tobio wasn't sure if words were strong enough to encapsute the entire feeling.

  Now, he had friends, a connection to the vilge, something to fight for beyond base survival. More to lose, too, if he couldn't stop Pein's mad goals, or Obito's crash out about not getting a girlfriend. Before he'd lost his first life, and original name, that sort of thing might have left him feeling a bone-deep kind of fear.

  These days, it just lit a fire under his ass to get so strong that he didn't have to rely on ninja jesus or his duck-butt boyfriend to save the day. If you wanted to see a future come to pass, sometimes you had to make it with your own two hands.

  "I think they're my best friends in the entire world." No, scratch that, he knew they were his best friends in the entire world. And that, more than anything else, made the warm feeling in his chest bloom all the stronger when he felt out their states on the other side of their connection.

  Contentment, satisfaction, and safety pouring out from across the vilge. He knew that his people were alright, which was the kind of guarantee not even the richest daimyo could afford.

  "That sounds nice," Fū admitted, smiling softly at him. "They sound…nice."

  "Then we'll have to have a cooking day like this again, and invite them next time." Those gluttonous pigs would compin about having to help, but they'd acquiesce if it meant getting to eat his cooking. "For now though, call it there for the day?"

  She nodded in agreement, sighing as she patted her toned stomach. "I'm stuffed, so I'll have to agree. Again, this is probably the best I've eaten, since…ever?"

  "Then I'll have to keep exceeding your expectations," he grinned.

  For now, it was a matter of wrapping up for the night, as Fū made her goodbyes and headed back to her home. He, meanwhile, finished cleaning up, and devouring whatever leftovers were left. Whether it was just the fact that he was a young boy, or the Oni blood himself of him, there was rarely a point where he'd had enough of anything.

  …But the mild cleanup was worth it, for his good company throughout the day.

  June 23rd?Instead of diving straight into training, their sensei had gathered them up that day, as they all sat in their training grounds. This was, quite possibly, the most serious they'd ever seen the usually smiling, grinning man. Having him be all business was a little off-putting.

  "We're coming down to the wire now. About a week until the exams," their sensei began. "So frankly, I'd prefer it if we cooled down the training a little."

  "Huh?" Hibachi was taken aback by those words, even if he looked a little pleased. "Just…taking it a bit easy, until we gotta head in?"

  Tekuno nodded, crossing his arms in front of his broad chest. "It isn't what you might have expected, but I'd rather not risk any unexpected injuries. I want you all in peak physical condition for whatever you might face coming up."

  "Not going home covered in bruises, or sore out of my mind? No compints from me."

  Ami scoffed. "Of course you'd say that."

  Hibachi could only throw a smirk her way. "Hey, I didn't start to specialize in traps just so I could be exhausted at the end of the day."

  "You'd be surprised," Tekuno interjected. "Setting traps is the easy part of my specialty. The long waits are the hard part, where you have to keep your eyes peeled, especially for people smart enough to get past your ambushes, or to bait people in so I knew when to trigger my explosive tags at range."

  "Any funny stories?" Tobio asked.

  "Had to pee my pants once, because moving away to go to the bathroom would have given away my position."

  "Gross," Ami responded, wrinkling her nose at the story.

  "We'll probably have worse on us by the time we're his age," the boy pointed out. It was almost a certainty that Tobio was going to bisect someone eventually, wielding the type of bde he did. He wasn't looking forward to the clean-up that'd take pce after the fact.

  "Regardless, we're mostly firming up your fundamentals this week," their sensei continued, following the main topic rather than the tangent they found themselves on. "Every exam tends to have very different components from year to year, or even vilge to vilge. Not that I could tell you anything specific, even if I did know."

  Ami huffed, eyebrows furrowed together. "Anything that you can share that won't get you in trouble?"

  "Hmm…" Tekuno rubbed his chin, head tilting from side to side as he gave it some thought. "Ultimately, most Chūnin Exams have a few shared components. There's usually something that measures teamwork, or leadership skills, general knowledge, and a degree of combat prowess. It isn't set in stone for year to year which is going to be which."

  It was already a bit of a massive advantage to Team Eleven that Tobio already knew what kind of tests were going to be coming. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, beyond whatever he'd accidentally spilt to Fū, and they'd probably be fine. If asked how he knew there'd be a tournament, well, Tobio would lie and say that he'd studied prior exams.

  "We're kind of on the ball with teamwork, right?" Hibachi piped in.

  "That's right," Tekuno confirmed. "Honestly, the toughest part for you lot is if you can't rely on Tobio's raw combat power to pull you out of a stitch."

  None of them were under any illusions as to the contrary. Ami and Hibachi could put up a good fight, but Tobio could fight them both at the same time, and their combat potential wasn't even close. He didn't need to go into a rage to take either down. They'd all accepted that fact, and even built some of their team strategies around that notion of Tobio as a juggernaut.

  If he was divided from them somehow, though, that was where things got dicey.

  "It's a little too te to do anything about that now," Tobio pointed out, and Tekuno even nodded.

  "I don't disagree. But that doesn't mean I can't answer questions, and we can't drill in the fundamentals lightly."

  With their priorities set, there was no point in dodging the issue. They all had a good idea of what they could do to improve, but over the st month, the group had especially been focusing on a few specific things…specifically, the jutsu that they were still cobbling together out of the kawamiri's remains.

  Ultimately, it wasn't even a real question as to what the group wanted to work on. They had caught the enthusiasm Tobio held for his bootleg Boogie Woogie, even if they did not share his joy in calling it that.

  It'd catch on.

  They were at the phase where practical tests and usage of the original substitution jutsu were key. Jutsu creation was as much an art as a science, and if you wanted to get good at creating a derivative, Tekuno advised them to hone their skill in the original. It wasn't so crazy as a concept as it might have seemed at first blush, seeing as it was a popur jutsu when used at high-level shinobi combat.

  Due to his raw durability, Tobio volunteered to be the test subject for most of their bone-headed early mistakes. He was able to walk off whatever misfiring damage took pce, without too trouble. More eerily though, was that they were closing in on some sort of solution.

  When they managed to make two small, wooden blocks swap, after using the whole borious combo of hand seals, they knew that this actually had a chance to work. And that lit a fire under their ass.

  It wasn't going to be done, unfortunately, by the time the exams were around. But by the end of the month, they had a fully functional, workable product that could be used for…something. Nothing combat-capable, not yet.

  The potential was there, though. All they needed was to knuckle down and hit that final hurdle.

  In no time at all though, the exams were upon them. And Tobio knew that if nothing else, they were bound to be eventful.

  There were a lot of targets to potentially reach out to, or take out. Quests, both hidden and known, that would be completed. And honestly…he wanted a measuring stick to put himself up against. Up to this point, Tobio had been riding on the guard rails of fate.

  Whatever he did from here on out was going to take them into terra incognita.

  He couldn't wait.