Chapter 34

Credit to 006Sam for bouncing ideas with me, most of the stuff about DNA is coming from ideas he inspired.

We talked about DNA, Cells, and bloodlines and he straightened some stuff out and made my ideas more solid or 'logical'.

I had a vague direction but it was looking subpar, Sam's Ideas straightened out the story a good bit.

So, much love to him.

If anyone wants to chat about the story feel free to PM me, I enjoy the back and forth.

...

Mom and I were sitting in the dining room drinking tea, different from usual mom looked annoyed with my presence.

"Can we add Duy to our team?"

My mom looked defeated.

"...Yes."

After a week of wearing my mother down Duy was finally going to become a member of our team.

"... Though you have to do the paperwork."

The smirk my mother sent me was annoying, I suppose this was revenge for bothering her?

I sighed...

I hadn't even asked Duy to join yet...

A quick hand-seal and I sent three Shadow Clones off to do my work for me.

I saw mom's smirk disappear and I sent her a smirk, the paperwork didn't inconvenience me in the slightest.

...

"Duy you're joining our team."

Duy looked confused maybe because I was giving him no choice in the matter, or maybe because I invaded his home and woke him up at midnight.

"..."

Duy sat up and stared at me for a moment.

"... What?"

I sent him a sunny smile I had copied from Kushina.

"Welcome to the team Duy!"

Duy's mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out, it seems I had caught Duy flat-footed.

I grabbed Duy's hand and placed a pen in it.

"Alright here's your paperwork please sign your name here and write your ninja registration number here."

I pointed to the appropriate sections and watched with joy as Duy mechanically wrote his name and registration number.

"Alright, thanks Duy!"

With one last sunny smile, I Shunshined out a window I had left open when I entered.

...

A new day dawned.

I had kidnaped Duy early in the morning to assess his skills.

He had been training with the Eight Gates the previous night so I had to heal him to get him ready for a spar.

The results were disappointing but expected.

Duy had no talent in the ninja arts, I had thought his Taijutsu would be great but even that was barely above Genin level.

His physical fitness was the only thing he had going for him, though I guess he had to have great fitness to use the gates.

I tapped my foot and sent Duy a look filled with disappointment.

He flinched and looked down avoiding my eyes.

Duy had been caught flat-footed with his abrupt entry into our team and we hadn't had time to chat.

"Alright..."

I looked at Duy who was still looking away from me.

"...You have no talent for the ninja arts..."

Duy slumped.

"...But just because you have no talent doesn't mean you aren't a great ninja."

Duy regained some vigor and his eyes met mine.

"Now demonstrate the Eight Gates for me!"

Duy sprang to his feet.

"Normally I wouldn't open any of the gates unless I had something to protect, but I'll show you what I can do Shiro!"

Duy got into a stance and took a deep breath.

I activated my Byakugan and slowed my perception.

"Gate of Opening!"

I saw one of the tenkutsu in Duy's brain flash for a lack of a better term, I attributed it to an increase in chakra from that tenketsu.

"Gate of Healing!"

Another tenketsu in Duy's brain lit up.

"Gate of Life"

A tenketsu on the spine lit up and I deactivated my Byakugan.

Duy's skin was red, veins were bulging all-over his body and his hair stood up.

Though his super Saiyan hairstyle made him look silly as even his mustache was standing up.

"Alright, I've seen enough."

...

Duy laid on the ground releasing heavy breaths, I was healing him and admiring the lack of damage done to his body.

Though there was a huge amount of lactic acid buildup, nothing to worry about as it would only cause muscle soreness.

"We'll have to get your Taijutsu up to scratch, having such impressive physical fitness is useless if your Taijutsu is subpar."

Duy nodded but said nothing.

"I'll be coming over every night to heal you and spar with you."

Well, a clone would, but it was pretty much the same thing.

"And don't worry about missions for the next two months I'll have some clones making enough money to take care of your necessity's."

Duy shook his head and opened his mouth to refuse but I cut him off.

"Alright I've got to go, we'll talk about it later."

I disappeared in a Shunshin successfully putting off the conversation.

...

I sat in my make-shift lab pondering ways I could make Duy stronger.

Obviously, he was getting his chakra network expanded and he was going to have his nerves enhanced, but that was as far as my ideas went.

I was rolling the idea of implanting some cells from the woman into him, he could use the healing factor, it would help him in recovering from using the gates.

Though Duy having a separate chakra type in his body would be extremely noticeable both to sensors and to any of the villages Dojutsu users.

So, If I wanted Duy to have that bloodline I needed to find a way for the two chakras to combine.

I didn't even have the slightest idea on how to go about that...

Could I just completely trade his chakra out for the woman's?

Maybe or maybe not...

Chakra was complicated it was affected by the physical body but also affected the physical body.

Sigh...

Maybe it didn't have to be too complicated.

How about a Gravity Seal and some body modifications?

Let's do that to start with...

I won't worry about anything more than that for now.

...

"C'mon! It's safe, I've done it to myself!"

Duy was literally backed into a corner and looked ready to escape.

"No thanks young Shiro, the Gravity Seal is enough for me!"

I pouted at his refusal, this was the second time we were going through this song and dance, Duy didn't even want the Gravity Seal at first.

"You won't even feel a thing! You'll wake up faster and with a bigger reserve of chakra!"

Duy paused for a moment, but then jumped into his nice guy pose.

"I believe I can become stronger through my own effort! One's true youth fades when they turn their backs on their beliefs!"

I took a moment to admire almost blinding sparkle on Duy's teeth.

"Artificially improving your reserves isn't turning your back on your beliefs, c'mon you'll forget it even happened in a few days!"

I took a moment to contemplate knocking him out and doing it regardless of his opinion.

Duy seemed to have picked up on my thought, he jumped through slipped through a window and started running off into the distance.

I approached the window and stuck my head out.

"I know where you live! You can't run for long!"

Duy looked over his shoulder and sped off faster.

I shut the window and eyed It for a moment, perhaps I should have that window sealed?

Or maybe just removed entirely...

It'd give the villages Genin something to do.

...

I stood staring at the letter I had received in disbelief, apparently, I was doing fine without a lab and there was no need to allocate resources for a personal lab.

Though there was a friendly offer to join the Research and Development department.

I balled the letter up and tossed it into the trash.

If the village wouldn't pay for my lab I guess I'd have to do so myself, I think I had enough to outright buy a house...

Maybe that's what I'd do.

Though it'd have to be outside the Hyuga compound...

Mom might apricate the idea as well, I heard the elders were pressuring her to marry anyways.

Perhaps getting out of the compound would do her some good as well?

...

Gai was glued to the ground and unable to stand, Duy was enthusiastically doing squats when he yelled encouragements at Gai

"Gai use your Youthful vigor!"

Duy was training with Gai, both of them were using Gravity Seals, for added efficiency I was healing them every time they got too tired to move.

It was a beautiful display of youth!

"Ha-ha! I've done it!"

I turned my attention back to Gai who was standing and had thrust his arms up in victory.

"Nicely done my son!" Duy slapped Gai on the back knocking him over.

Duy ignored Gai and made his nice guy pose.

"Now it's time for the next step!"

Gai had worked his way up again and was enthusiastically waiting for instruction.

"It's time for one-hundred push-ups!"

Duy dropped to the ground and started doing him, Gai also dropped to the ground but was struggling.

"I can do it! I have the passion of Youth!"

That's a new one...

"That's the spirt Gai! That's the power of Youth!"

I turned my attention back to the seals I was making, I would have joined them but I was a clone and there was nothing to be gained from exercise.

That and I had money to make...

I spared a look at my almost forgotten pile of storage seals.

I looked back at Gai, it was interesting how he turned out.

I figured he might be different without his eternal rival Kakashi to challenge him but he seemed mostly the same.

Perhaps any changes would become more apparent as he aged.

Gai was only twelve now, there was plenty of room for him to change and grow.

"YOSH! Let's increase our seals!"

I sighed, at a certain point the simply too heavy to use or too chakra expensive.

I wondered what level Gai would eventually reach.

I was maxed at level five, the increase to level six broke my already ridiculous bones...

Not that it mattered...

...

Plan 'get out of the compound and make my own lab' was a go.

Mom was reluctant to move as the house we were living in was her parents and after some discussion, we agreed to keep the house and rent it out while we bought a new house away from the Hyuga.

Though maybe she agreed because I said that I'd be moving regardless of what she chose to do...

So, the plan was to get a place in a shinobi occupied neighborhood with a basement.

Sadly, this wasn't a quick process, thankfully mom took it upon herself to find the perfect house and it was no longer my problem.

Now I needed to look into getting some equipment, I didn't know where to start or if anything I needed could be bought so maybe I'd have to steal it.

I'm sure Orochimaru probably had a few hidden labs I could pilfer if needed.

...

"Shiro start packing we have a mission."

I looked up from my book.

"What are we doing?"

I had a few experiments planned so hopefully this mission wasn't too much of a time sink.

"We're going to Noodles for a patrol mission."

So, we were just making sure there were no Ninja's trying to hide near Konoha.

"Can Duy come?"

Mom rolled her eyes.

"Your project can come."

I rolled my eyes back at her, he wasn't my project.

"I guess it's time to field test Duy."

Though it's a shame that the mission would delay house hunting a bit.

...

We were on our way to Noodle Country, Duy was brimming with excitement and was chattering non-stop filling what had once been a comfortable silence with constant noise.

Mom and I were both quiet people and having Duy with us was a change to our usual dynamic.

It wasn't a huge upset, it was just different.

And perhaps that is for the best, some change is good after all.

"So, what's our team name?"

Duy's question broke me from my thoughts.

"No idea."

I looked at mom as I really had no idea.

"Its Team Hyuga."

Something I didn't know, I had thought it was just a nickname.

"Now we need a new name."

Duy stayed silent and mom just nodded.

"Any ideas?"

Mom and Duy both stayed silent.

"..."

Finally, Duy spoke up.

"Team Youthful Gentlemen?"

The word youthful didn't come with its usual enthusiasm.

"No"

Mom didn't like the name but hadn't offered any suggestions of her own.

I bounced a few ideas around my head before settling on the least awful one.

"Team Irregular?"

Mom shrugged and Duy nodded.

"Alrighty... I'll update it when we get back."

Well, a Shadow Clone would...

...

We were mid-way through Noodle Country when mom spotted a treasure.

And by treasure, I mean a Kaguya.

He was apparently leading a little group of Genin and was showing them how to remove their tracks and use chakra to keep yourself from sinking into the muddy ground.

It was rather touching.

"Alright, I'll meet you guys at the capital."

Mom and Duy nodded through Duy looked confused.

"Alright see ya!"

With a little wave I took off in a Shunshin towards the direction mom had pointed out.

...

I was about two-hundred meters from the Kiri-nin.

He was setting up camp and teaching his Genin how to start a fire, it brought back memories of Minato teaching me and Kakashi the Fire Starting Jutsu.

How sweet.

Though now that I was close, I was hesitant to do anything, the Shikotsumyaku only appeared in Kimimaro so I didn't have much to gain from capturing this guy.

I figured it was like Wood Release only appearing rarely once every few generations.

In fact, it might something to do with being the reincarnation of some part Ōtsutsuki ancestor.

Maybe Kimimaro was the reincarnation of one of Hamura's sons or something?

I started chewing on my nails, I wish I hadn't even had this thought.

It only complicated things.

How much did Hashirama's Wood Release have to do with being the reincarnation of a quarter Space-god and having space god chakra?

Working under that assumption maybe Ōtsutsuki chakra awoke dormant DNA and gave its wielders access to forgotten bloodlines?

Could I awaken or improve my bloodlines by 'awakening' dormant DNA?

A lot of DNA was just 'junk' and filled with inactive elements that only become active with stimuli such as environmental changes or trauma.

Perhaps Ōtsutsuki chakra was the stimulus in Hashirama and Kimimaro's case.

Going by that logic, chakra itself could also be part of that stimulus and allow for changes to happen in the bodies of potential shinobi while they grow up and train their bodies.

Bloodlines are simply unique mutations built upon those changes over generations. Stuff like elemental training should also be reflected in one's DNA...

I used my arm to hide my eyes even though it didn't do anything with my Byakugan active.

The more I followed this train of thought the more things made sense.

The Tenseigan 'awoke' with Ōtsutsuki chakra, probably the chakra awakening dormant DNA.

The Sharingan awoke with trauma, it was trauma activating dormant DNA.

Madara awakening the Rinnegan, it's Senju chakra and Uchiha chakra combining making demi Six Paths chakra and awakening dormant DNA.

It all seemed to fall together.

I resisted the urge to groan, where do I even start with DNA?

I wasn't sure Orochimaru had gotten into DNA yet, wasn't he just injecting Hashirama's cells into children and killing them when he got booted from the leaf?

Was he experimenting with DNA or cells?

I couldn't remember.

...So, I didn't even have anyone to steal research from if he was just messing with cells.

Fuck!

And Emergency Rations had changed with exposure to chakra as well!

More chakra and DNA fuckery.

I couldn't even get into DNA when I was still bumbling around with cells.

There was no way I was ever going to be able to get into DNA without computers.

And I hadn't seen more than a shitty television so far, so there was no chance of the Naruto-verse having computers.

Is this enlightenment?

No, I think the word I was looking for was epiphany.

I had an epiphany and could do almost nothing with what I had thought of.

Sigh...

I turned my attention back to the team of Kiri-nin.

They were happily roasting some fish over a fire and chatting.

Perhaps I would awaken both the Tenseigan and Shikotsumyaku if I got some Ōtsutsuki chakra into my system.

Though how 'pure' would the chakra need to be?

Could it come from Naruto or Sasuke?

Could it come from the Ōtsutsuki on the moon?

Could it come from the statue that Madara was currently hooked up-to?

Could it even come from Kimimaro?

Or could I inject myself with Hashirama's cells and use his chakra?

Would it even matter if I dosed myself with chakra...

Madara was hooked up to the statue for ages before he awakened the Rinnegan.

So many questions.

I took a peek at the Kiri-nin, they were settling in and getting ready for sleep.

What do I even do with them?

I watched as the female Genin threw more sticks into the fire.

Did I even need to do anything with them?

...