Butterfly Effect and Land of the Waves

After the spar, Shiki sent everyone packing with Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata and Hanabi scheduled to return tomorrow for training.

Still, this was all being taken care of by a soul clone. Meanwhile, the real Shiki was already considering new avenues of growth for both his power and his wealth during this time and the last few days after taking out Danzo.

Thanks to his medical knowledge taught by Tsunade and the gains from his forays into the Land of Medicines, Shiki was considerably capable of creating various useful drugs and medicine.

So both as way to increase the wealth and influence of his two identities, Shiki started producing drugs to further increase the Reaper's hold in the underworld while with the help of the Hokage, Tsunade and without using any of the Reaper's resources, Shiki started up his own medicine company. The Company would eventually supply the entire world with quality medicine for a variety of injuries and diseases.

Shiki poured a lot of the funds earned from his missions to start this company up. It would later not only give him plenty of funds to use, unrelated to the Reaper but it would also earn him good will on a global scale.

In the ways of power on the other hand, there were several avenues to explore. Being granted the use of Danzo's information network and resources allowed Shiki to infiltrate some of the more hidden or powerful factions including the other hidden villages in the great nations. So soon, he would be getting a plentiful supply of new souls to use.

Shiki also had the opportunity to observe Might Guy's and Rock Lee's training and managed to figure out how to open the eight gates but even though he fulfilled the physical requirements, Shiki could only open the first without extra training which he was already planning.

Through Hashirama's memories, Shiki found out his Sage Mode came from his mastery of wood style. Since this nature transformation brought him a lot closer to the natural energy of the world, Hashirama then started being able to absorb this nature energy through practise and meditation. This surprised Shiki a lot since it meant Hashirama had learned Senjutsu all by himself. On one hand, it meant Shiki could also learn it without visiting any of the three unexplored sage regions, on the other hand though, it would be impossible for him to learn Senjutsu quickly through this method.

Back on a positive note however, Shiki had learned the Strength of a Hundred Seal. This jutsu from the era of the Sage of the Six Paths was acquired by the Uzumaki at some point and while Shiki could already use it before he couldn't divert his chakra to it while maintaining with usual prowess. This made Shiki avoid using it but thanks to the recently obtained Ryumyaku this problem was about to be solved.

A very neat seal from the legacy called the Chakra Conversion Seal was the answer to his problems. While the chakra of the Ryumyaku was usable it was not truly his own chakra, so while he could make a seal to store it on his body, it wouldn't be the same as the Strength of a Hundred Seal. But using the Chakra Conversion Seal, Shiki could convert the Ryumyaku chakra into his own.

Originally this seal was meant to pool the chakra of several different individuals into a single one while changing the chakra's signature and properties to those of that individual's chakra. With this, Shiki created two Strength of a Hundred Seals on his forehead, one on each side of where his byakugan appeared.

This however, gave Shiki another idea. The Gift of the Sages chakra, required for the use of the Raigo: Thousand Hand Strike could only be obtained through daily unrelenting training but with the same approach, Shiki devised a new seal. This seal was a fusion of the Strength of a Hundred and Chakra Conversion Seals. Its function was to store Gift of the Sages chakra and in case it started running low, Shiki could fill it up with his normal chakra that would be immediately converted.

Shiki placed this seal in the center of his back. And using his now nearly unlimited supply of chakra, he started to try and come up with new ways to use it.

Leaving these matters aside however, Shiki learned one of his soul clones received a particular C-rank mission.

Some time earlier, In the Hokage's office, a soul clone was standing in Shiki's place as he busied himself with more important matters.

"I have a mission for you!" Said the Hokage.

"What's so special about this mission Old Man since you don't usually act so official." Quipped Shiki.

"Well, this is not the type of mission I'd usually entrust to a genin you see . . ." Hiruzen continued.

"This could all be avoided if you recommended me for the chunin exams you know?" Retorted Shiki.

"This is because you insist on taking the exams alone! As such, no matter how good you are, there's no way I'm going to send you to solo an exam in another village!" Argued the Hokage.

"Or, you could have used the Hokage's authority to promote me and be done with it!" Shiki argued back.

"That's only a measure for when the chunin exams can't take place and the other shinobi of the village would want justification! It matters not, the next chunin exam is on Konoha so you can just participate on this one by yourself if you wish!" Hiruzen ended the discussion.

'You know full well that there would be no problem! I know it's the elders that are insisting on that and you're giving me bullshit excuses so I won't "remove" them.'

'Too bad for you my fake Danzo is present in all those meetings.'

'I swear that if you don't die during the Konoha Crush I'm gonna Kotoamatsukami you into permanent retirement!'

'Originally I thought I would graciously allow you to live but I'm having second and third thoughts already!'

"Tch! Fine, old man! But what's the mission?" Asked Shiki.

"It's a C-rank mission to the Land of the Waves, you can do it yourself." Said the Hokage.

'This is definitely the Tazuna guard detail but why did the old man ask me? And to do it alone even!'

"So why did you call me?" Inquired Shiki.

"Since our "talk" I've been making preparations for future events and the village's intelligence network has been enhanced due to the Reaper's contributions. We caught wind that there might be something fishy about this mission but I need most of the jonin for other things and I'm not sending those with squads of unproven gennin."

"You on the other hand are a genin with capabilities superior to most jonin so you're the right person for the job! In case our suspicions turn out to be false, it will be just another mission for you but in case they are true, I'm fully confident in your ability to dead with things!" Finished Hiruzen.

'Damn you, butterfly effect! Well, it's not like Zabuza is that big of a deal for me . . . Wait a second! Isn't this a great opportunity to recruit some members for my cause? Both Zabuza and Haku are quite capable after all. Besides, if Zabuza is not agreeable I'm sure Kotoamatsukami will change his mind hehehehe.'

"Fine old man, I'll do it!" Accepted Shiki.

But Shiki had another reason . . . He had read enough fanfics in his past life to entertain the possibility that Haku was a hot girl instead of a pretty boy and he would assume so until proven wrong! Hope is the last thing to die out!

As Hiruzen and Shiki settled on their terms, Tazuna entered the office expressing doubt at the boy's capability to protect him and for that, Shiki had only one answer.

"If you're not happy old man, either pay more or try somewhere else. If you manage to keep your head long enough to find somewhere else that is."

Tazuna still tried to argue.

"Is that the attitude towards one's client!?"

Shiki calmly answered.

"I'm being paid to protect your life, not to humor your crap. Besides, what kind of idiot call someone incompetent and then expects a good attitude from them?"

Following that Tazuna wisely shut up and the Hokage really didn't feel like starting another discussion with Shiki so the pair of client and bodyguard departed from the village.

The old man now knew better than to quip at Shiki's lack of capability to protect him that he perceived but was still worried after lying about the threat level of the mission and it showed on his face.

Somewhere along the way, Shiki noticed a puddle where two idiots were hiding in wait. He could easily spot them too, they were at chunin level after all so they were just small fry. It cause Shiki to dream about such an easy world but he knew he had to amass power while he could. Two or three years from now countless overpowered threats would come out that made even most kage level Shinobi cute in comparison. Unlike Naruto and Sasuke, Shiki couldn't expect convenient power ups just before the Otsutsukis came to play.

Back to the situation at hand, the two idiots jumped from their cover after Shiki and Tazuna passed by. The boy didn't even bother with the usual theatrics. Using overwhelming speed and power, he broke the two chunin's necks with a chop each and stored their bodies in a storage scroll. Then he turned towards the dumbfounded Tazuna and said in a chiling tone.

"So, Tazuna-san. Mind telling me why there are two chunin level shinobi after your life when you just put in a C-ranked request?" Inquired Shiki while thinking.

'Of course I know the reason but there's no way I'm not getting some extra benefits out of this. I may not need it but it's a matter of principle!'