Wising up to the variables

The feast didn't last that long, but I got a good response on the food which will undoubtedly please my Mother and Naomi-san, so I'm good on that front

After the feast, I was able to make small talk with a few of my summons/ bodyguards and get to know them a little more

Though I didn't have any grandiose declarations or any similar talk this time around ' I would rather have a legitimate relationship with them instead of just obligations, so this is going to be but a start of many other small talks '

After spending half an hour just talking after the feast the other pokemons left while the usual crowd followed me to the egg room where my partner was resting

' And I'm damn sure that there will be at least one that matches everyone's expectations '

However as I stepped into the room I noticed that there were significantly fewer eggs than the previous time I visited this room. I immediately voiced my observation

"Did anything happen to the eggs? Was any of them hurt? "

Because we don't know everything and there might have been something that we overlooked

However, Jynx lays my worries to rest

" None were harmed. We just believed that it would be best to have the jewel with eggs that showed actual absorption instead of luck "

That is logical and good that the rest wasn't hurt as I feared

" So these 8 eggs actively absorb the aura from the jewel? "

After their affirmation of that, I try and sense it and I can vaguely feel energy enveloping the eggs and even us but then again it's time to cut them out further

" Now I'm going to add my own energy to the mix, I want all of you to focus alongside me, if all of them show negative reactions to it and I do not notice it, please stop me " I turn my head and match their eyes awaiting their response and Dragonite nods his head signalling they were ready

So I look towards the egg and blast outwards with the Conqueror's haki, immediately I sense that 3 of them were actually shaking and stopped

And Jynx teleported the eggs somewhere else we continued the test and after two more tries 2 more eggs were taken out but that doesn't mean the rest were better at resisting, they all conceded in the end but they lasted longer than we thought and their absorption rate actually quickened up during the last test so after much consideration it was agreed that for now, we should only have 3 eggs in the room

Dragonite just grunts and says " Besides maybe they might absorb even more quickly without others also taking a share of the aura "

I just shrug at that

' I am not a scientist. I don't know these things but I guess I'll learn them through experience '

But Gengar conveys via Jynx that the egg should only incubate for 2 more months at maximum at this rate, I guess I'm getting a change of scenery for the next two months

After that adventure, we removed ourselves from the room. Though I looked back at the eggs that hopefully contained my partner

---------------------------------------------------------------------

After leaving the room we each went on our own ways, I mean they went their own ways while I went back home and briefly mentioned how the occasion went to my parents and crashed

But my late arrival gave me less R.E.M time and I guess that's why I felt lethargic while doing the morning workout, but the breakfast lessened the lethargy and I continued my usual routine, though I asked my father to get a beginners book for sealing when I get back and discussed my thought of staying in the pokemon world for a week to ensure optimal strengthening of the eggs and thus my partner

Father agreed that he will allow that on the condition that I join them every morning for breakfast, dinner & supper and return to the realm afterwards, he did not budge on that and I didn't even fight against that requirement

' Besides, that is already generous enough of them '

While I was giving everything to my routine, my mind was occupied by many things the moment I stopped my movements and after realising that this would only continue If I didn't come up with a way to stop that I just sat down and took a few breaths and stared at my home while my mind calmed itself

Now to try and figure out a legitimate way of stopping the massacre

' Stopping this coup by revealing the truth will be tricky, especially since both Danzo and Obito will trip over themselves to create another coup within the Uchiha by the way they're going '

This leaves us just where we started and the only option we have left to us now is to ensure the information required reaches the appropriate people's ears

i.e the Hokage's ears, Jiraiya's ears, Dad's ears etc

And if everything else fails then the last attempt to stop this massacre will be to fight Itachi

' Though that holds another danger as Tobi is lurking as well, he might just kill me himself and I would have been locked in combat by then with two above-normal S-rank shinobi. Which is very much not ideal '

Though I would very much like to just reveal the information and leave this up to the adults and focus on preparing myself...I can't because the adults have proven themselves unreliable in this scenario

' I mean come on, the hokage and his advisors control the village but they aren't the village '

It wasn't just the above-mentioned people that isolated the Uchiha clan, it was almost everyone in the village thanks to the herd behavior society follows

The rumours of their control over the Kyuubi, which admittedly is real ' Even though only two people have done it so far ' and their attitudes and refusal to help the rest understand their truth out of pride

The fact the Uchiha clan was pushed out to the outer walls of the village to further spy on them by the advisors really sparked this particular fuse

' And unfortunately, I'm gonna have to clean it up. All because I'm not that much of a bastard and mainly because we can't afford another conflict and I don't really need the death of that many people on my conscience.... at least not yet '

But regardless of what plan is being put into action, I need to be strong enough actually match an opponent like Itachi or even assure my survival against similar beasts of nature

' Though that's the main problem since most of these people are just so. damn. strong.. '

Honestly, this situation isn't actually that beneficial to me that much, but I need to confront it in such a way and I'm not even the damn protagonist of the story

But since I need to do it, let's stop whining about it and do this shit

Now, what do I need to do?

Become strong enough to beat or survive S-ranks within 2 years

What are the chances of that? Less than I'd like.

Now what we have to introduce is another variable that will allow me to meet these conditions

' While having another person by my side if I need to confront Itachi is ideal, it's not like that Itachi will be the only one I need to fight or the chances of that being the only time that I would have to fight while hilariously out of league '

So the variable. The Variable... what is the variable?

Some options immediately stand out to me

*Sage mode- but can't actually use it at this age or gain experience enough in it to actually use it within the timeframe needed

*Summons- A covered variable, but can't be a one-trick pony

*Immortality- like Hidan or Kakuzu but without the drawbacks

*Intangilibilty- I mean if Konan can pull off a bastard logia trick then I sure as hell can do it

But this will already cut into my training time while working out the methods, but I have to do it cause I want to live

' Honestly, it's like a noob trying to complete the hardest dungeon on hard mode '

Wait... A noob, challenging above his weight class. As in he in some way bypassed the requirements needed for attempting the dungeon

And I slap my head with frustration as my dumbass self actually remembers how to do this the right way

' Stupid, Idiotic and dumb. Where's your experience playing games? If you truly punch above your level then you match with equipment or skills '

The 2 years are for training skills and I even have a damn crafter extension, I can't believe the fact that I really forgot about this advantage I had

' I really want to know how the extension works but I don't know what to expect here '

Would it just whisk my mind away like in the technique tutor? Or would it transport me to another realm as the summons world do? as such I believe I should start the extension in a controlled environment

' Maybe just a quick peek after disguising myself as sleeping? Yeah, let's do that '

I make sure to yawn audibly in front of mother as I step into the room to eat dinner with her and I play up the sleepiness a little bit which wasn't that hard to do as I did have a little grogginess even now

After doing this a few more times, I just quietly retire to my room after informing my mother to wake me up in 3 hours

After entering my room and laying down on my bed I activate the crafter extension for the first time and the familiar voice rings in my head

•

Crafter extension activated

Welcome to the crafter path

Unlock the formulas for each crafting by yourself or by referencing known ways

Learn the property of materials and design your creations

Please note that the extension works only when awake and works based on guiding the user through the motions of crafting once the materials are selected and only at suitable locations

•

' What? '

I blink my eyes and look at the message a few more times to understand what the hell it means.

Then I ponder on the words for a few more moments and come to the conclusion that I probably can't understand what it really meant unless I activated the extension at suitable locations

' Which naturally should mean workplaces like smithy '

Besides, I believe I have the bare bones of the extension figured out

' I provide the materials and the system guides me through the process or better yet it just does the process instantaneously like in Skyrim and I get the product in my hands '

Both are actually cool options as far as I'm concerned but I have to make sure that the options are what I'm thinking

' I can't influence the system but I sure as hell can hope and pray for it '

So I jump up from my bed and meet my mother and wave off her questions about my previous task and ask her the position of a smithy

" Mother, would you be so kind as to point me towards a smithy? "

At my question, she squints at me for a moment before slowly answering my question with one of her own

" And for what reason do you wish to go to a smithy now Shikamaru? "

" To increase my odds of survival and to better my chances of being productive "

Her face audibly blinks and I can see her counting upto 10 in her mind at my bland answer before she straightens up and say the smith location apparently there is one in the clan, just not that better than the civilian counterparts and thus focuses on just repairing household equipment more than actual weapons but that'll do now

' I mean it's not like I'm going to need a top forger to understand my system, I just need a suitable place to trigger the extension successfully '

So I quickly bade bye to my mom and walked to the smithy which wasn't that far away from Shikki's place but I quickly started jogging the minute I was away from my home and thus reached my destination within minutes

I was lucky because the smithy was open and working as I could hear the clanking of materials and most importantly the door was open

As to make a good first impression I calmed myself and knocked on the door

When I saw the blacksmith I admit, that I had fallen into stereotyping as well

' Well, You can't actually blame me that much for that one. I mean when we think blacksmith everyone thinks a rugged, bearded masculine man or a muscley but beautiful woman, but here... '

What stood in front of me was a young adult with a body that was just 10 missing meals away from lanky

" Aah, wh- who are you? "

' And apparently nervous as well '

And you must take the fact into account that I'm pretty much a kid at this point and am pretty much inferior to him in experience and body

' I guess with chakra one doesn't need to develop their body that much to do such roles '

After an awkward conversation between Arata and me, I entered the smithy and at least the stereotypical smithy didn't change

{

" I just wish to watch you work, don't mind me "

" Why? "

" Why not? "

}

After entering the smithy I activated the extension while keeping my eyes glued to Arata's hands while he was repairing a fuma shuriken

As the extension activated I frankly got a gamer's hud experience

A square on the right side for materials opened up and right below it was a tab named inscriptions and on the left side was the last square for crafting item

I naturally clicked on them and understood what I was supposed to do on the right side

The minute you click the window named materials you get an option to select the items you have on hand or in the inventory

Inscriptions on the other hand was all about enchantments and basically adding perks to the crafted items

The last window on the left side still eluded me as when I opened it I could only see another box for instant creation which was not selected and a list that basically had nothing on it

But as I kept feeling Arata peeking at me I resolved to truly look at the damn process for a few minutes so he didn't doubt me but that helped me

After a few minutes, he repaired the fuma shuriken and moved on to a tanto

But a new name formed on my previously empty list and the new name was

- Fuma shuriken: Repair -