Chapter 130: No going back.

Two months had passed since Homura's visit to the library, where he made the startling discovery of the Kurama clan's existence within his world. However, things turned out to be more complicated than he initially anticipated. With his commitments to work and the academy, he had less time to devote to his investigations. Nonetheless, Homura remained determined to uncover the truth about the Kurama clan.

As Homura contemplated the clan's whereabouts, he realized that they resided not in the center of the village, but rather on its outskirts, specifically in the northern region. This location was unfamiliar to him, and he had previously assumed that there was little of interest in that direction apart from some flat ground and a few trees. However, he soon discovered that he was mistaken.

His time at the academy had not turned him into a coldblooded killing machine, but had made him much less apprehensive to conflict; much less armed conflict. 

"Solution: Host could use food as a substitute to gain mass. " C, stated his solution at the behest of his clueless master; who failed to grasp the idea behind the statement since it felt so alien in their current situation.

Homura's eyed flashed signs of confusion as he heard the seemingly alien statement. "Food?"

"Solution: If host gains more mass, it would translate into a large number of cells available for host to have at his disposition. Currently due to host's age the number of cells available within host body are more or less half of the amount needed for an adult to have. However, if Host increases body weight the likelihood of master creating new cells in a higher number after integration of foreign genetic material will increase. Perhaps resulting on master having more chakra. "

Homura hearing C's statement was puzzled. "...( Is that why the Akimichi eat so much to get big? Perhaps, but it is likely just the base requirement that their jutsu require, and not even that much is needed, since they are overall still fit...and more fat guy over the thousands of years of shinobi history would have come up with a similar jutsu...Yang energy is more likely the key to this dilemma then fat or more cells. Otsutsukis more likely have many more cells within their bodies than the average human...not that I don't know that they can't become bigger, and Kaguya certainly could get much bigger by transforming into her other form. ) So basically you're tell me to become fat.

C immediately answered. "Affirmative."

To the clear statement by C, Homura's head hurt a bit, thinking that the system inside his head was too literal for his own good."...Even if I think you're right, I could see many problems with that outcome. ( It is true that most ninjas that appear bigger in size than the average human seem to posses increased amount of strength, C probably thought it was one of the reasons as to why giant summons are that powerful to even pose a challenge to tail beasts...and I don't think that's wrong. It is said the denser the chakra the more mass one must have in order to properly use it, that's partially why Naruto in the manga could not fire a tail beast ball and the rasengan can't be easily thrown. And by that logic, it would make sense as to why chakra trees need to absorb massive amounts of natural energy...but a human...Am I being used as an experiment? )...it seems like an interesting idea but I think I will pass for now."

However C as the cold machine that it seemed to be only replied with his all so common "Understood" phrase to close an argument, it never tried to defend his ideas or theories unless pressed by Homura.

Nonetheless, to Homura this entire operation was now considered a bust.

And with a heavy sigh, Homura resolved to proceed cautiously. He couldn't afford to let doubt consume him. He had to gather the necessary DNA samples from members of the Kurama to work something out, and all he needed to confirm now was whether Yakumo's powers were sealed or not. Only then could he make an informed decision about the next steps.

Hours went by and Homura was unable to get his answers.

As night fell, Homura retreated to the safety of his home, his mind filled with the complexities of his mission. Sadly he could not remain outside the forest near private property, especially since that one was being investigated. He could feign ignorance or pretend the material he gathered while in the forest was the reason, but there was no reason for him to risk in being in such a situation.

He gathered the several rocks, animal fur and excrement he had collected. Why was he doing that?

He had wanted to see if his DNA would be used for a future project of his.

Homura knew that his DNA could be tracked by C when he was nearby, the samples he got were from food he had sprayed with his blood. 

Nonetheless, it was too late for Homura to bother with such a thing. 

Furthermore he lacked most equipment and patience needed to try to record any data. 

So instead of looking further into the matter he closed the lights in his apartment and went to bed.

The weekend provided him with a temporary respite from the academy and work, allowing him time to regroup and plan for the days ahead.

-------------------Several weeks later--------------

Weeks passed, and Homura remained dedicated to his cover story of collecting samples from animals and flowers in the region surrounding Yakumo's residence. His interactions with C became more frequent as he sought guidance and validation for his actions.

"C, is there any sign that this surveillance might be a trap?" Homura asked, his tone laced with caution.

C responded with its usual objectivity. "Statement: The possibility exists, but without further information, it is impossible to ascertain. For now, it is advisable to maintain your cover and gather the necessary samples discreetly."

Homura nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of C's advice. The risks were great, and he couldn't afford to make any hasty moves. He had to be patient, even if it meant waiting for years to gather everything he needed.

As time passed, Homura's doubts and uncertainties continued to plague him. He questioned his motives several times, the sacrifices he was willing to make, and the potential consequences of his actions. The weight of responsibility rested heavily on his young shoulders, and the path he had chosen was fraught with uncertainty.

Yet, with each passing day, Homura's resolve grew stronger, due to the time he wasted in the process...the current situation could not last forever. He knew that the challenges he faced were necessary to achieve his ultimate goal. The integration of DNA samples, the risks, and sacrifices were all part of his journey toward becoming stronger and protecting those he cared about.

"(Sharingan!)" in a moment of desperation Homura activated his sharingan for the third time today. 

With his vision now red after activating his sharingan, Homura saw to clearly different chakra signatures inside Kurama Yakumo's house, it was impossible to tell which was which.

Since he could not see an acurate layout of the house with his sharingan, he never wished to have a byakugan available to him as much as these passing months.

Always afraid of being caught in a trap or be found out if he ever decided to get any closer. 

It made Homura realize how valuable sensory ninjas/jutsus were and the need for a byakugan truly was.

He was not a ninja in possession of a space time, that allowed him to infiltrate or dissapear from a location without anyone realizing that he was ever there.

All Homura had was speed. 

By learning the hand seal (boar) from watching Hiruko, a Konoha missing nin who stole the kekkei genkai from a shinobi in a movie, Homura tried many things to make the ability work. 

And after a year of training he was able to do it. It was similar to applying chakra into his whole body, through 129 nodes inside his body while circulating his chakra at the same time Homura was able to do it.

It was only possible since C recorded everything inside Homura's body, although it was unable to gauge chakra as a whole, the chakra pathway system was physical and not at the same time. 

It sounded simple on paper but it was not, determining how much chakra was needed to perform the jutsu and the exact timing of how chakra flowed into each node was a nightmare, unlike Homura, Hiruko was a ninja who was able to mold his chakra properly with one hand seal, if Homura did not possess the genetic predisposition and constitution for using that kekkei genkai, as it required for both elemental releases needed to be activated  at the same time. The entire process would have been impossible.

However, although was training to learn raiton as much as he could via several techniques taught to him inside of the scrolls he obtained it proved harder than he thought. 

Not that Homura was better at using wind release but lightning release had a whole different feel from the latter. 

At least it was not as hopeless as when Homura wasted a week practicing an Earth style training method in one of the scrolls he obtained, that one was outright impossible. 

It didn't seem that he was good at earth style, it was far worse than fire style.

But regardless, of Homura's training. The truth remained that Swift release could not help Homura on this specific matter. 

At least Homura as he was now. 

He could only use Swift release to move a maximum of 2o meters at his best performance, the problem was it needed time and worse it was in a straight line.

Using Swift release in doors or to move in tight spaces was impossible without breaking his legs, besides the strain he would put on it by moving at unbelievable speeds.

The only good thing from that whole debacle is that he did not suffer tunnel vision, but what good it was good for if one could not move out of the way even if they wished for, since they were unable to turn around.

So Homura currently had nothing within his arsenal that could allow him to infiltrate Kurama Yakumo's house without being found out.

"C it seems from today's energy there are only 2 people inside from the chakra I am detecting with my eyes from inside the house...what are the chances this is a trap?" Homura asked as he pretends to be looking at something else from within the woods near Kurama Yakumo's house. Homura said while looking at the unmoving blobs of chakra as he then proceeded to turn off his sharingan once again.

Though C being the machine that it was answer it user as soon as its user was ready to hear its response. "Response: Unknown. There are too many factors that are not know. However, in the case of a trap Host's chance to be caught are 97.38 percent within the first 5 seconds."

"Tch!" Homura's frustration to hearing C's prediction, made him let a sound of comtenpt unconsciously.

He knew that if things went sideways and it was a trap he would be finished, at least that much C was right. 

And it would open a whole different can of worms that he could not escape from.

The fact that he was connected to Naruto would come to bite him twice as hard. 

Hiruzen, the third hokage may appear as a kind old man on the outside but he was still a skilled shinobi that could see patterns and know what to expect from others. 

He would definitely use his powers and authority as Hokage to get to the bottom of this entire ordeal.

If Homura even manages to arrive to Hiruzen, there are other powers within Konohagakure that could get to Homura before even the third hokage.

"(If only I could touch Kurama Yakumo directly or an object in specific...*SIGH* I guess I should head home.)" Thought Homura to himself as he picked up the small discarded remains of an animal that was killed and eaten by presumably a bigger animal.

To maintain his cover as a sample collector in the region, Homura agreed to exercise caution and continue his activities while keeping an eye on Yakumo.

Feeling a mixture of frustration and impatience, Homura sighed and decided against using his swift release technique to expedite his movements. While it would allow him to cover more ground, he had limited stamina and needed to conserve his energy. Furthermore, it was still too early to become directly involved with Yakumo, as she had already awakened her powers. All Homura could do was wait for an opportunity to confirm whether her powers were sealed away, providing him with a chance to achieve his objectives. Besides that, from his memories from the show, a long term anbu or shinobi being assigned to watch over a person at all times was not really a thing, unless you a criminal allowed to roam free like Orochimaru. 

Homura reminded himself that he still had several years to gather everything he needed and more intel on the current situation, perhaps if they believe that the seal placed on her holds up; may be Yakumo would be left to her own devices.

Her clan clearly feared her.

She was somewhat ostracized by the fact that most people would not mention her name and besides an assigned caretaker for Yakumo, nobody got close to her house; which made Homura unable to get close either. 

A sad fate that befalls most with extraordinary abilities beyond the norm that cannot be controlled by the people in position of power.

So after gathering samples from the surrounding environment, Homura returned home, knowing he had to be meticulous in his cover as a diligent student and class president. It was during this downtime that he decided to revisit his personal cave. Before entering the designated room rigged for safety, he passed by various mannequins and unfinished inventions, remnants of his tinkering and experimentation. The room also housed an assortment of plush toys, most of which were work-related.

Before entering the room, Homura passed by several mannequins and unfinished inventions that he had been working on. Among them, he noticed various plush toys he had created, mostly for work-related purposes. However, his true purpose for coming to this place lay elsewhere. As he entered the designated room and ensured it was safe, he removed his rain cloak and retrieved a box filled with water, originally ice. Though the water itself held little significance, it was the smaller blue box inside that caught Homura's attention.

Opening the box, he found three syringes and several strands of hair—thirteen different samples in total. However, the only thing he cared about was the syringes. One was labeled H-S 3, another A-C 3, and the other was labeled H-H 2-3, but the last one was not full of a weird liquid inside, only several strands of hair and other specks of dust, pieces of paper and other things inside. 

Homura had a habit of collecting DNA from individuals he found interesting, such as Might Guy, though he had no immediate plans to utilize those samples. His focus was solely on the syringes. One labeled H-S 3 contained Haruno Sakura's DNA mixed with other substances as well mixed in a weird liquid.

With a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, Homura finally reached the room with a makeshift bed on it which was at the end of the cave with the box of syringes and DNA samples in hand. As he picked up the syringe labeled H-S 3, he couldn't help but feel his fingers tremble. The weight of his actions weighed heavily on him, and his internal conflict surfaced.

"Is it really safe to inject this and have the desire results, C?" Homura asked, his voice tinged with skepticism.

C, in its characteristic robotic tone, responded, "Answer: Based on the analysis of Haruno Sakura's DNA and the accompanying substances, it is deemed safe for injection. However, the cells of Haruno Sakura are not enough to allow you to replicate or attempting to replicate her talent in chakra control, only by going through integration process could your DNA truly be reworked to encompass unawaken genetic traits or be replaced with Haruno Sakura's genetic framework." 

Homura hesitantly could not help but to stop the syringe a few inches away from piercing his left arm before asking C another."(are you sure you are able to distinguish between most DNA and building blocks and foundation, you can't really sense chakra.)"

However the machine had a rebuttal to Homura's query. "Solution: I will only alter a strand of DNA near a specific chakra point inside the host body, it may take several months or years in order to limit risks to limit permanent damage to the host body. However cooperation by host is fundamental via chakra to stimulate the specific chakra node area affect by the changes. At least once a day for general results are needed to evaluate the state of modifications "

Homura hearing C's answer was convinced of the whole ordeal, and worst part is that the chakra node that C planned to run his experiment was close to his chest. Near the gate of death, if anything happened than he could say good by of using the 8 gates and potentially chakra in general, worse, he may even die.

The chakra pathway system, the mystery that lead to chakra being used overall.

Just as the tailed beast were technically just large masses of concentrated chakra, they were still physical entities that needed to need chakra and bled such as any other creature that had physical form.

It was overall a similar process that made humans turn their bodies into water or transform into objects with the use of the certain types of ninjutsu.

The same process that if one is hit on a tenketsu point their tenketsu will be blocked as well as the damage would be felt on the spot that one was hit in via the gentle or a similar technique. 

The same concept applies when a ninja loses an arm thus causing them to have trouble performing ninjutsu anymore.

Regardless, this process allowed for both C and Homura to devise several ways for him and Homura to formulate several hypotheses. 

He knew very little about the topic in question but a man named Shinno, a medical ninja and antagonist in one of the movies did something similar.

He didn't seem to do what Homura was attempting but Shino did something that could be seen as potentially worse since he unlike Homura, was destroying his body and sub sequentially heal himself in order to get more powerful and durable. 

Though it did work, it did leave several fatal flaws, but the worst weakness was that he needed dark chakra to perform the whole process on a larger scale and truly apply his technique.

Though Homura was not attempting something that crazy, he could only imagine the effects it could have on his chakra control for a long period of time. Though Chakra control was to some degree innate, there was no doubt in Homura's mind that he nonetheless would be seeing the consequences of that decision.

Fortunately the academy jutsu tat were needed to pass the exam were not really demanding for one to have amazing chakra control. As long as one had enough chakra and knew how to perform  the jutsu in question, technically one could pass. However, the risk of ending up like Naruto at the beginning of the series who had abysmal chakra control and made his clones barely usable due to them having being made by Naruto dumping a huge amount of chakra in them instead of more equally shared among several clones.

Though even that was ultimately bypassed by the used of shadow clones who are clones with equally split the same amount of chakra that is then returned to the user as it is dispelled.

Nonetheless, Homura couldn't do the same thing as Naruto. 

Not only did he not know the full effect of his choice but he also could not rely on having as much chakra as an Uzumaki or use the shadow clone technique.

So for Homura the entire process was an ordeal on its own.

Homura's sharp wit couldn't resist a retort. "Well, let's hope it doesn't turn me into a pink-haired medic with a complex for my forehead and in love with a socially challenged boy."

C remained impassive. "Answer: The outcome of DNA integration is ultimately unpredictable. Removing most traits present inside Sakura Haruno's DNA one by one is the only way to gather information, a living host with the ability to use chakra is fundamental aspect of the procedure. However, given the potential benefits, it is a calculated risk worth taking."

The smart-mouthed Homura couldn't resist a snarky remark. "Calculated risk, huh? I hope your calculations are better than your sense of humor. My sa" Homura was the one who discarded his safety first but to C, it seemed as long as Homura was alive and able to think was enough to considered Homura as safe. A paper cut is the same thing as a limb missing, not important to the overall structure known as his host. Perhaps it is because Homura could be transplanted anything that was human that it did not care, but asking a computer about morals did not turn so well for Homura the last time he did as much. 

C responded in its matter-of-fact tone, undeterred by Homura's sarcasm. "My calculations are based on data and probabilities, not humor. Proceeding with the integration process will augment your abilities and increase your chances of success."

Nonetheless, Homura hesitated to go with the procedure as the syringe in his hand was shaking ever so slightly due to the numerous emotions inside his mind.

As he prepared to inject himself with Haruno Sakura's DNA, Homura's fingers trembled with uncertainty. Using Yakumo's DNA felt necessary for his quest to become stronger, but injecting the DNA of individuals like Haruno Sakura and Akimichi Choji felt different. Born with the Uchiha bloodline, he felt a connection to the Uchiha clan and had no qualms about incorporating their DNA. However, using DNA from someone outside his clan made him feel as though he were betraying his unknown parents and acknowledging his own inadequacy.

Yet, in a fleeting moment, memories of Uchiha Takao's lifeless body flashed through Homura's mind, reminding him of the destroyed house that had become his sanctuary.

With determination in his voice, he muttered, "I guess there never was any other path for me... I've made up my mind. "

In that instant, he found the resolve he had been seeking. He was willing to do whatever it took, to pay any price, to achieve his goals. The dead could not beg for forgiveness. Homura's pride relented, and with newfound determination, he injected himself with the liquid from the syringe. 

Injecting himself, Homura felt a surge of energy followed by overwhelming fatigue. The strain of the process caused him to lose consciousness, but a new chapter in his quest had begun.

Chapter end